Biological Nightmare
by Watanagashi-hen
Summary: What had to be a fun vacation turns into absolute horror as a bad decision leads the girls into a mansion filled with creatures that defy all logic. Azu/Resi X-over. Rated M for strong language and scenes of explicit violence and gore.
1. Safe Travel

_The first chapter of my first fanfic._

_Enjoy and review!_

_Oh yeah! I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil. It's just a fanfic, who the hell cares anyway.  
_

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Chapter 1 : Safe Travel

"The airplane to Raccoon City USA will be departing in 1 hour, repeat, the flight for Raccoon City USA departs in one hour"

Hearing this announcement, a certain raven haired girl began tapping her foot nervously.

"Damn, where are they? They'd better not be late!" she thought to herself. After all, they still had to check in, recieve the tickets they reserved, go through the security boot and make it to their plane in time. To make matters worse, the Tokyo airport hall was flooded with people, even this early in the morning.

The girl sat down on the bench. Since looking for them was not the best thing to do because they made a deal to meet eachother here, she could only wait for them, hoping they'd show up anytime soon. After waiting and slightly panicking for a minute or 5, she finally heard a familiar voice calling out for her.

"Hey, Tomo! Over here!". Tomo shot up and looked through the dense crowd of travellers. After scanning the sea of people, she spotted two girls, one with brown long hair and glasses, and a tall one with black hair.

"Ah, Yomi! Sakaki-san! Where were you guys?! And where are the others?"

Yomi sighed and explained "Well, to answer your first question, sorry, but we kinda got stuck in traffic and it was tough getting through this crowd, and secondly, the others are waiting at the reception, because we would just lose eachother anyway."

"Well then what are we waiting for! Let's go! Our plane leaves in less than an hour!" Tomo snapped.

So the trio managed to squeeze their way through the crowd and met up with the rest of the group.

"Ah, Tomo, you made it!" a girl with brown short hair and a slight tan said to her.

To what Tomo responded somewhat irritated "Kagura, what are you talking about ? I was here way earlier than you guys!"

"No way, that's unlike you, to be so early" Kagura said grinning teasingly.

"Haha, yeah, I was so excited I got here early. I didn't even sleep much last night."

"Oh" Tomo changed the subject, "Chiyo-chan, did you bring the camera?".

A small girl with orange/brown hair in pigtails replied happily "Yes, it's all charged so it should last for at least 24 hours!".

"Yes! Alright!" Tomo chanted, "can I keep hold of it?".

To this request Chiyo frowned, because leaving it in Tomo's hands would surely leave the camera in shambles. "Well,…okay, but promise not to break it!"

"Haha, don't worry don't worry" Tomo exclaimed while snatching the handheld camera out of the little girl's hand. "I'm gonna shoot an awesome documentary with this".

"Hey, while you guys were goofing off, me and Sakaki-san already got the tickets. So let's get going!" Yomi said while waving the airplane tickets in the air.

"Alright, let's go!!! Come on Kagura, I'll race you!" Tomo yelled in her usual fashion.

Kagura, who never turns down a challenge, accepted. "Okay, you're on!"

And with that, both Tomo and Kagura raced off.

The rest of the group followed calmly, with Yomi clearly being irritated with the dynamic duo. Untill she turned her head and noticed something…

"YOU IDIOTS, YOU FORGOT YOUR LUGGAGE!"

After that awkward event, the six-headed group made their way to the security boot. While their luggage was being checked, the dull-witted, straight-brown haired girl Ayumu, nicknamed Osaka, decided to open her mouth.

"This is the first time I'm going to America"

"Yeah, same here" Kagura responded excited.

"Did you know that in America the steering wheel of a car is on the left side?" Osaka noted.

"Oh? I didn't know that" Kagura reacted surprised.

"Yes, it's true, and they also drive on the right side of the road instead of the left side".

"Really… so?" Kagura responded.

"So if someone from Japan went there and drove a car, he would just crash into every other car, also, if Yukari-sensei went there, many people would die, wouldn't they?"

Kagura remained silent.

"So" Osaka continued, "isn't it a good thing Yukari-sensei didn't come with us?"

Kagura sweatdropped and said "that's just mean".

Osaka didn't say anything, but just gave her a confused look.

The crew passed through the security boot without any trouble, except for Tomo, who had to split way with her pocket knife and got a warning from security.

So now they only had to board the plane and they were all set. Before they headed up the stairs into the airplane, they took one more look at their home country, because they weren't going to see it again for 2 weeks.

Trying to act like she was in a movie, Tomo shouted at the top of her lungs "AMERICA HERE WE COOOOOME!", closely followed by a whack to her head by Yomi.

'Will you please behave!?' she snapped at her.

About 15 minutes later, the plane finally took off. And the group of girls were on their way to the midwestern town in America, Raccoon City.

The six young girls were seated somewhere in the middle of the plane, the three knuckleheads Tomo, Kagura and Osaka on the left-hand side, and Yomi, Chiyo and Sakaki on the opposite side. Without further ado, Tomo fired up her camera, well, Chiyo's camera.

"Alllriiiiight our adventure is about to begin!" she cried out.

"It's not an adventure, it's a vacation, and we're just going to relax okay? So don't do any stupid things." Yomi's voice sounded from the other side.

"Yeah yeah, whatever" Tomo pouted. "Oh I know, character introduction!"

"What?"

Tomo pointed the camera to herself. "Introducing the star of this show, me! Tomo Takino" she said in an overly pridefull manner.

"Here's Kagura". Tomo pointed the camera at Kagura who was sitting by the window. She grinned and gave a peace sign.

"Next we have Osaka, say something to the camera Osaka!"

Osaka smiled sheepishly like she always does, and responded with "hi".

"Is that all? Oh well. Over there we have Chiyo-chan. Isn't she cute? She's most likely going to be the first victim" Tomo laughed in a mean way.

"V...victim?" Chiyo weeped in a small voice.

"Ignore her Chiyosuke" Yomi said in an annoyed tone.

"There we have Sakaki, wave to the camera!"

Sakaki gave a little wave, until continueing to look outside the airplane window.

"Ah, you're no fun" Tomo sighed. "And of course we have Yomi over there!"

Tomo gave her a long and intruding camera stare.

...

...

"What!?" Yomi finally snapped at her.

"Nothing, I just have to zoom the camera out. I'm having a hard time fitting you on the screen."

"SHUT THE HELL UP IDIOT!!!" Yomi barked, not without grabbing attention from the rest of the passengers of course.

The rest of the long flight was quite peaceful. Of course there was the occasional Tomo and Kagura messing around, and Yomi trying not to make a scene. Osaka kept herself busy with the many gadgets on the seats, Chiyo read a book and Sakaki silently enjoyed the scenery from almost 40.000 feet above the earth.

The flight seemed to take forever though, untill the stewardess announced that their destination was closing in and that the plane would slowly start descending.

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(A/N)

Tomo : oh, first chapter already over? That was quick. But wasn't I awesome?!

Yomi : Yeah, that was really awesome, the way you forgot your suitcase at the reception and how you got in trouble with security. Really, kudos.

Chiyo : But this looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun! I'm already looking forward to what we're going to do!

Tomo : "At that time, she didn't realize it was gonna be...such a tragic trip..." or something like that?

Yomi : That joke didn't work the first time, it's not gonna work now, so shut up!

Sakaki : .... I didn't get any lines in this chapter...

Wata : Don't worry Sakaki, I'm not leaving you out, promise. Anyway guys, so much for the first chapter, and I gotta say, it's tough! So excuse me if it's not perfect, cause I know it's not. Well, make sure to give some feedback so far, and look forward to the next chapter. It's coming sooner than you think!


	2. Arrived In Raccoon City

_Chapter 2_

_I had this one ready before I even submitted the first one, but I kinda kept it from you =p_

_I do not own AD and RE, and that rhymes when you say it like that._

_Enjoy!  
_

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Chapter 2 : Arrived In Raccoon City

As the landing gear finally touched down on solid ground after an over 10 hour flight and the plane steadily lost momentum, someone on board was getting very excited.

"Alright! We're here, we're here!" Tomo cheered out loud.

Yomi, who was tired from the whole trip, decided to let Tomo do whatever she wanted, as long as she didn't bother her that is.

"We have arrived at the Raccoon City airport, thank you for choosing Japan airlines, please enjoy your stay" the stewardess announced.

"So this is Raccoon City" Osaka said in a dry tone, as the group of girls were standing just outside the plane, all glad to get a breath of fresh air again.

"So...where are all the raccoons?"

Everyone gave Osaka a good dumbfounded look.

"No... I don't think that's why they call it Raccoon City" Sakaki spoke softly.

"You mean there are no raccoons?" Osaka said with a dissapointed look on her face.

"Well, ehm, I'm not sure, I don't think there are any in the city" the tall young woman responded.

Osaka frowned "but then that wouldn't make any sense! If that's true then they could have named this city anything, like...Gopher Town..."

Yomi sighed "Gopher Town, that's just typical..."

"You know, Osaka has a point" Tomo stated, pointing her finger in the air.

"No she doesn't" Yomi said calmly with her arms crossed.

"Osaka, you just think too much sometimes" Kagura noted.

"Ehm, shouldn't we go get our luggage back from the terminal?" Chiyo interrupted.

So they did. After retrieving their suitcases, they made their way to the tourist kiosk to pick up a map of the town, on which all tourist attractions were marked, as well as the hotel the group were staying in. Afterwards they visited the local bank to exchange their currency, since the Yen is not accepted in America obviously, and a little currency calculator to make shopping a lot easier.

Since the group didn't intend to drag their luggage all over town, the next objective on the to-do list was to check in in their hotel. They called a taxi since the hotel was pretty far away from the airport. Conveniently, the taxi was in fact a minibus, so everyone could get on. During the drive, the girls investigated the map they got from the kiosk.

"Wow, check it out, this place even has it's own zoo!" Kagura said cheerfully.

Osaka looked up "A zoo! There's bound to be raccoons there".

"What is it with your obsession with raccoons" said Kagura, with and awkward smile on her face.

"When I heard we were going to Raccoon City, I expected to see raccoons, and I'm not leaving here until we do" Osaka smiled.

"Ah...okay" Kagura sweatdropped.

Sakaki started dreaming "A zoo", she drifted away and started thinking about the many animals there, especially the large cats. At this thought, she blushed slightly.

"We should deffinetly go there" she suddenly spoke up.

"Yes, we should, after all, Sakaki likes animals,doesn't she?" Chiyo responded, to which Sakaki nodded.

In front of the cab, Tomo stated her opinion on things. "I'm actually really interested in the shopping mall. It looks like it's really big! I can't wait to see what they have."

Yomi agreed. "Yeah, we should take some souvenirs along, it's not like we visit America every day."

"We have 2 weeks to look around, so we can visit as many things as possible" Chiyo said cheerfully "Look" she pointed on the map, "There's also a city park, I want to go there too!"

"Alright!" Tomo cheered, obviously getting in the mood, "We're gonna poke around as much as we can, and we're gonna shop till we drop!"

The athmosphere was really litting up, and it was surely going to be a vacation they were not going to forget.

The drive took about 30 minutes, because there was a lot of traffic on the road. When the taxi arrived it was well in the evening.

"Well ladies, we're here" the cab driver said smiling.

"Thank you sir, how much do we owe you?" Yomi smiled back, ready to reach for her wallet.

"Why, nothing, the transport from airport to hotel is free for tourists, didn't you read the brochure?" the man spoke with a friendly tone.

"Oh, really? We must have missed that" Yomi responded surprised. "Well, thanks again."

"My pleasure. Take care of yourselves."

"We will sir". The girls waved one last time before the taxi drove off again.

"Well that was convenient" Tomo stated

"Sure was! And even more money saved" Kagura laughed out loud.

The group made their way through the glass turning door and entered the lobby of the hotel. It wasn't exactly a 5 star hotel, but it seemed comfortable enough for the girls to spend the night.

"Okay guys, I'll check us in, I made the reservation after all." With this said, Yomi walked through the automatic door seperating the lobby and the reception. A young blonde woman was standing behind the counter.

"Hello miss, we would like to check in, we made a reservation?"

The young lady nodded and opened up her registration book. "On what name was the reservation made please?"

"Mizuhara Koyomi."

The woman looked through her list. "...Mizu...ah yes, Mizuhara. You reserved a room for six, for 2 weeks, is that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Will that be an all in?" the lady asked.

Yomi slightly shook her head. "No, we decided to eat out."

Meanwhile in the lobby

"It seems Yomi can be really friendly when she needs to, yet she's always so mean to me." Tomo said in a tone not to be taken seriously.

Kagura chuckled "maybe because you always manage to piss her off?"

Tomo gave Kagura a playful hit on her shoulder. But then something caught her eye.

Against the wall of the lobby was a large pinboard, and pinned on it were a bunch of posters and newspaper cutouts.

On one of the posters was a large umbrella shaped logo with a white and red pattern. Tomo approached the poster to see what it said.

"What's up Tomo-chan, see something interesting?" Kagura asked her curiously.

Underneath the logo it read "RACCOON CITY : Home of Umbrella Corporation".

By now the rest of the girls, except Yomi who was still checking in, were standing in front of the poster.

"Umbrella Corporation?" Chiyo thought out loud.

"The logo looks like an umbrella too" Osaka pointed out the obvious.

"So what does it do?" Kagura wondered

"You girls are not from around here?" sounded an unfamiliar voice coming from their left.

They turned their heads to see a blonde haired man, maybe somewhere in his late thirties, sitting on a bench.

"Well, are you?" he asked in a deep, but gentle voice.

Kagura was the first to respond to the stranger. "Ehm, no, we're here on vacation. We're from Japan."

The man stood up. He was quite tall, taller than Sakaki, who almost reached 1m80 herself.

"Japan" he said, "I thought so. You don't look like American civilians."

Sakaki noticed that Chiyo was getting a bit uneasy, so she bended over and asked "Chiyo-chan, what's wrong?"

Chiyo looked at her with a bit of a puzzled look, and then shook her head "n..nothing, I'm fine."

"So, what does this Umbrella Corporation do?" Tomo asked the man.

He responded "Umbrella is a pharmaceutical company, and the biggest in the region. It has the largest amount of shares on the stock market of any company in this city. Almost all the pharmaceutical products in the city and the vicinity are produced by Umbrella. It's the company that this city is known best for, and also what this city supports it's economy on."

Tomo, not really bright enough to understand everything the man just said, just replied with "Oh, so in other words, it's really really important."

"Yes" the blonde man answered, "without Umbrella, this town might not even exist."

Suddenly the conversation was interupted when Yomi re-entered the lobby.

"Hey guys, the check in is complete, we can..." Yomi paused when she saw the tall blonde stranger.

He gave Yomi a short gaze. "Well, I must be going now" he said in his deep voice "enjoy your stay."

With that, the mysterious man went through the turning door and walked off into the street.

"Who was that?" Yomi asked.

The rest of the girls were still left a bit confused.

"We don't know, he just started talking to us" Kagura stated.

Chiyo took a step back. "I don't like that man, something about him scares me" she said with a nervous face.

Tomo shrugged "Well he was a bit weird, but he did explain all that to us, so I guess he's nice and all."

"Explain? What did he explain?" Yomi asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girls give Yomi the explanation about Umbrella

"So, a pharmaceutical company huh? So what, what's the big deal?"

"Oh nothing" Tomo raised her hands behind her head. "We were just wondering because of the logo on the poster here. I guess it's no big deal" she said with a wide smile on her face.

"Well, anyway, we should get some rest. The jetlag from the flight should get to us pretty soon" Yomi said.

"Yeah, I hope we have a nice room!" Tomo exclaimed.

"I reserved well in advance, so yeah, we have a nice room" Yomi smiled, "so let's get going. It's room number 7 on the 5th floor."

"Okay! Last one there is a rotten egg" Tomo yelled in her regular way.

"No way am I a rotten egg" said Kagura, and she chased Tomo up the stairs.

"Whaa, me neither" Osaka wailed, and ran after them.

Yomi, Chiyo and Sakaki just looked at eachother and chuckled, then followed them.

It was a nice room indeed. 6 seperate beds, a tv and a bathroom that wasn't too shabby either.

Also a nice view over the city, which looked very pretty during nighttime. The girls threw their suitcases next to the respective beds they claimed. They figured it would be a good idea to catch up to some sleep from the long flight. Most of them didn't sleep much last night to begin with. After all, There were still a lot of exciting days coming for them.

"So, what are we gonna do tomorrow?" Tomo asked, as she sat on top of her bed.

"Well, we can eat breakfast at the restaurant I saw at the back of this street" Yomi answered "and later on we... dunno, walk around in the city"

"Can we go to the zoo?" asked Osaka with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, sure, if everyone is okay with that."

Both Osaka and Sakaki lit up at this.

"Yes, okay!" Chiyo said smiling.

"I'm in" cheered Tomo.

"Me too!" Kagura followed up.

"Okay then" Yomi decided, "but now we should get some sleep, or we're not gonna get up in time tomorrow, so goodnight everyone"

"Goodnight" everyone said in unison.

And with that, the lights went off, and it didn't take long until everyone slumbered off.

* * *

Wata : Yes I realise that Raccoon City doesn't have an airport, and I'm not sure about a shopping mall, but let's just pretend it does. If I didn't give it an airport I would have to drag on this story even more. A fun little side note, I made a small and subtle refference to Dead Rising. Wonder if you caught it.

Tomo : So, we haven't really done anything yet, have we?

Wata : Be patient Tomo, chapter 3 is coming up.

Chiyo : That man still scared me...

Osaka : I have just thought about something. If Umbrella really is that important, why didn't they call it Umbrella City instead?

Everyone : ...


	3. A Walk In The Forest

_Chapter 3_

_I do not own RE or AD!_

_RE/AD and review!_

_Want some candy?  
_

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Chapter 3 : A Walk in the Forest.

With a long yawn, Tomo found herself waking up before everyone else. Not completely awake, she rubbed her eyes and stretched herself. She looked outside the window to see a beautiful, sunny summer morning. Tomo's mouth curved to a smile and she jumped out of her bed.

"Hey, Kagura, wake up!" she said while trying to poke Kagura awake.

Kagura just grunted a bit before turning herself around again.

"Hey c'mon, rise and shine sleepy head!"

"Ugh, okay okay. What time is it?" Kagura responded, still half asleep.

"It's quarter to eight, and it's a great morning, too good to stay in bed" Tomo sparkled.

Kagura sat herself straight, rubbed her eyes and looked outside the window. She was right, it was a great morning.

"Okay, will you wake up the rest then?" Kagura said while getting up and heading for the bathroom.

"Okidoki", she grinned. She inhaled deeply, getting ready to yell at the top of her lungs.

"Not like that stupid!" Kagura stopped her just in time.

Tomo choked and then faced her.

"Well, I thought this would be the fastest way" she laughed embarrased with one hand scratching the back of her head.

Kagura chuckled "just do it normally, or else Yomi will be pissed at you again all day".

While Kagura went to splash her face with water to get the sleep out of her eyes, Tomo proceeded to wake everyone up. Everyone, except one.

"Huh, what's going on?" Kagura asked as she entered the room.

Tomo, Yomi, Chiyo and Sakaki were standing around Osaka's bed.

Chiyo looked up at her and responded "We can't get Osaka to wake up, no matter what we try."

Kagura looked, and indeed, Osaka was still sleeping peacefully, not responding to anything the girls do.

She bowed down and brought her face next to hers and yelled "Oi, Osaka! Wake up! Breakfast is ready!"

No effect though...

"Damn, she sure is a heavy sleeper" Kagura sighed. "Oh hang on, I have an idea" she formed a somewhat evil smile.

Kagura ran back into the bathroom, took a cup from the counter and filled it with water.

"Oh, I see, you're a genius Kagura!" Tomo praised her.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea? Maybe we should try something else." Chiyo said with a worried expression while waving her arms.

"Don't worry Chiyo-chan, this might just work" Yomi assured her, forming a similar smile to Kagura's.

Now, everyone was standing around Osaka, watching in suspense.

"Oh wait, I gotta film this!" Tomo interrupted. She grabbed the camera and turned it on.

"You ready?" Kagura asked, to which Tomo nodded grinning.

"Okay here goes!" and with that said, Kagura made a yanking movement with her arm, splashing the water straight on Osaka's face.

Osaka shot up and started sputtering out the water that made it into her mouth. "Whaa! Whaa! Help! I'm drowning!" she cried out, with her arms wildly flailing around and her eyes still shut.

To this, both Tomo and Kagura started laughing uncontrollably.

"Hahahaha, oh...man,....that was....priceless!" Tomo snorted out while gasping for air.

"You should have seen the look on your face Osaka!" Kagura said while wiping away a tear and grabbing her waist from laughter.

Osaka looked at them with a dazed and confused look. She looked at the others and they were all trying desperatly not to burst out laughing.

"Oh...guys...that was mean" Osaka complained, still with the dazed look on her face.

"Hehe, sorry Osaka, but it was the only way to wake you up" A recomposed Yomi spoke to her.

"Come on Osaka, get ready, we're going out for breakfast" Chiyo cheered to her.

Osaka formed a smile on her face, which was still dripping from the water. "Okay" she nodded, "sounds good".

Tomo, who was still chuckeling, spoke up "That was golden! I'm so glad I decided to film that."

Osaka dried herself up and got dressed. After gathering the needed items, such as money and the map, they headed out of the hotel, ready to get their first American meal.

The dinner house Yomi mentioned was only a little further down the street. They sat themselves down by a table next to the window. The waitress had her hands full with taking orders and delivering everyone with their early morning meals and their coffee. The girls took this time to take a look at the menu to see what they'd order. Osaka and Chiyo were in the mood for pancakes, Tomo and Kagura decided to try out the serving of donuts, Yomi chose the bagels and Sakaki opted for the sandwich of the house. As for drinks, only Yomi and Sakaki chose coffee, the rest settled for soda.

As they were waiting for their order, Tomo grabbed a newspaper that an earlier customer had left there.

"The Raccoon Times huh? Let's see what's going on over here" she thought.

She opened up the paper and browsed through the pages. Mostly she saw articles about politics and also a few that involved Umbrella, which immediatly reminded her of the encounter they had the day before. She continued to browse until her eyes caught on a smaller article somewhere in the middle. The title read : "Still no new findings in the mysterious Arklay Mountains dissapearance".

She looked up and said "Hey guys listen to this". She started to read the article out loud.

"There are still no developments concerning the dissapearance of a man in the Arklay Mountains 1 week ago. Mark Fendell, a 31 year old carpenter, father to 2 children, went missing after going for a walk in the forest surrounding Raccoon City, not too far from the city borders. It is unsure if the man got lost or was attacked by an animal. The R.P.D, which stands for Raccoon Police Department, are still flying over the area, but so far, no sign of human life was found. If the individual is not found soon, as declared by the R.P.D. chief Brian Irons, the special force team S.T.A.R.S., which stands for Special Tactics And Rescue Squad, will be deployed. There is no clue if the recent rumours about unusual noises coming from the Arklay Mountains have any relation with the dissapearance. Police chief Irons states that there is no reason for public unrest, since the relationship between the dissapearance and the rumours is not proven."

Chiyo gulped. "That's scary!"

"Yeah, you think it could have been a murder?" Kagura wondered.

"Who knows" Tomo shrugged. "They haven't even found a body yet, maybe he was kidnapped!"

Osaka joined the conversation. "But what was that about strange noises? Maybe there are monsters in the forest, and they attacked that man."

Tomo threw her hand in front of her in a mocking manner. "Pffff, you don't actually believe that do you? I bet those are just rumours spreaded by people who are getting scared and are willing to believe anything. One person says something like that and the rest follows. Next they're gonna say he was abducted by aliens" Tomo laughed it off.

"Tomo has a point" Yomi butted in, "but it still sounds scary".

"See? People love news like this, it's sensation, everyone loves it" Tomo stated while pointing a finger in the air.

"You seem to know a lot about this Tomo-chan, maybe you should become an analyst" Osaka pointed out.

"Haha, you think so?" Tomo answered a bit embarrassed.

Sakaki, who was just listening to the conversation, then noticed that the waitress was back with their order.

"Ehm, sorry to interupt, but our breakfast is coming" she said while slightly pointing to the waitress.

The girls paid for their breakfast in advance, and were ready to chow down.

"Well, as they say in our home country, Itadakimasu!" Tomo cheered

The rest of them followed in unison "Itadakimasu!".

The customers, who were not used to this, looked at them weird for a moment, but quickly realised they were not from around here, so they continued their personal business.

After half an hour or so, and a bunch of random conversations, the girls left the dinner house saturated.

"Aahhh, that was good, I'm really starting to digg this american food" Tomo chanted

"We just had breakfast you know, nothing special. Although I must say those 'bagels' were pretty good" said Yomi.

"Yes, it was good" Sakaki joined, "So, what are we going to do now?"

"Let's go and look around in the city!" Kagura jumped up and down excited.

So they used their city map to walk to the city center. What they found was an onslaught of stores, the whole street was filled with them. It was quite crowded, so only local cars were allowed to pass through. The group visited every shop that interested them, including clothing shops, CD, DVD and videogame stores, stores that sold all kinds of trinkets and so on.

In one of these stores, Tomo was standing in front of a whole selection of small knives.

"Tomo, what are you doing?" Yomi wondered.

She turned around and answered "Those guys at the airport took mine away, I'm looking for a new one"

She continued to look at the collection.

"Oh hey, this one is nice! It has a nice handle, and the blade is cool too. It's a lot bigger than my old one too, and it's so cheap!"

As she took it to the counter, Yomi called after her "hey, I don't think they're just gonna sell that to you..."

"That will be 5 dollars please" said the clerk.

Yomi sweatdropped and reacted in an amazed way. "They...they just sold that to you, no ID check? Nothing?"

Tomo grinned and said "this is America Yomi, everything is possible here" as she walked past her.

Yomi pushed her glasses straight. "I guess so" she mumbled, but she wasn't sure if letting Tomo buy a knife like that was a good idea.

As Yomi was looking after Chiyo and Sakaki to see what they were doing, Tomo managed to catch up to Kagura, who was looking through some CD's.

"Yo Kagura, can I talk to you for a minute?" Tomo snook up to her.

Kagura looked up and replied "Sure, but why are you talking in such secrecy?"

"Well, about that, could you come with me for a second?"

Tomo lead Kagura to a corner of the store where no people were around.

"What's this about?" Kagura asked puzzled.

Tomo spoke softly "I'm sneaking out tonight"

"What? Why?" Kagura hightened her voice.

"Hushhh, not so loud!" Tomo hushed her.

"Sorry, so why?"

"Ever since I read that article I've been thinking about it, and I decided to go there myself" Tomo explained.

"You're going to Raccoon Forest? Are you crazy? It could be dangerous out there at night!" Kagura tried to warn her.

"Don't worry, I bought a new knive, so I can defend myself with that if something goes wrong" Tomo assured her.

Kagura frowned. "But still, what if you get lost? From what I've seen the forest is huge!"

"I brought a compass with me, just to be sure" Tomo reasoned.

"But why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to come with me of course"

"What? No way! I'm not getting involved in this" Kagura crossed her arms, looking sure of herself.

"Ow? Why not? You scared?" Tomo challenged her.

"No! Are you?" she barked back.

"Me? Of course not!"

"Then why do you want me to go too?"

Tomo didn't really know what to say to this.

"Look" Kagura sighed "I just don't think this is a really good idea. And besides, Yomi would never let us..."

"That's why I'm keeping this a secret to her. We're going without her. I'm planning to ask Osaka and Sakaki too" Tomo stated.

Kagura cornered her eyes, still doubting Tomo's idea.

"Come on, it will be fun! There's probably nothing there anyway. Besides, if you don't come with me, you will regret it later on". Tomo tried to persuade her.

Kagura sighed again, "Well...okay then. But you'd better know what you're doing"

"Alright!" Tomo cheered, "I knew you wouldn't let me down"

Kagura gave a small smile, but inside she was thinking to herself "Man, I know we're going to get in trouble for this".

"But wait a minute, how are you planning to get out of the hotel? I doubt you can get out through the front at night" Kagura came up with this new problem.

"Well, there's bound to be a back door somewhere, so this evening, I'm going to look for one and see if it's open, but it should be in case of a fire" Tomo answered her.

"Fair enough" Kagura murmered, "but if the door isn't open, we're not going, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, it will be fine" Tomo smiled widely.

About 5 minutes later, both Tomo and Kagura managed to track down Osaka, who was looking through some trinkets in a second-hand store.

"Yo, Osaka !" Tomo called for her.

"Oh, hi Tomo-chan, hi Kagura-san, did you already buy something?"

"We'll talk about that later, we have something to tell you" Tomo grinned.

Osaka looks at them with her trademark look.

"Heh? I don't think we should..." Osaka responded when Tomo and Kagura gave her the explanation.

"I already told her that, but she seems sure about herself" Kagura said with a smile.

"But what if there really are monsters there?" Osaka pleaded them, with a scared expression.

Tomo laughed and put her arm around Osaka. "Listen Osaka, there are no monsters there, monsters don't exist you see? So there's nothing to be scared about!"

"Except for Yomi if she finds out" Kagura mumbled to herself.

"Are you sure?" Osaka said with the tips of her two index fingers touching eachother.

"Of course I'm sure!" Tomo smiled. "And who knows, you might actually get to see some raccoons there!"

"Okay then" Osaka nodded.

"Wow, that was easy" Kagura thought out loud.

The three knuckleheads figured Sakaki wasn't going to be so easy to persuade. They found her, fortunately alone, looking at the stuffed animals in the toy store. Tomo did the explanation again, to which Sakaki responded

"I don't think we should".

Tomo, however, responded to her with

"You see, I wanted to take you along because I know Sakaki is strong, so if something would go wrong, I know Sakaki could protect us."

Sakaki blushed at this compliment, and eventually, Tomo managed to get even Sakaki to come along.

After the conversation, Kagura whispered to Tomo "damn, you're good". Tomo just grinned triumphantly and replied with "hehehe".

The rest of the day was just filled with shopping, sight-seeing and more shopping. Because it was getting late, everyone agreed they would go to the zoo tomorrow, as they still had many days to come.

Evening began to creep in. The girls picked up something to eat and made their way back to the hotel. As they entered the lobby again, Tomo quickly made up an excuse.

"You guys go on ahead, I have to go to the bathroom really bad" she lied.

"Okay" Yomi agreed, "you remember where our room is right?"

"Sure! Room 7 on the 5th floor, right?"

"Okay then, we'll go on ahead"

Yomi and Chiyo went up the stairs, and Osaka, Kagura and Sakaki gave a nod to Tomo, who at her turn nodded back. Afterwards they followed and climbed the stairs.

"Okay" Tomo thought to herself, "time to find that door!"

* * *

Wata : Okay, just for a disclaimer, the name used in the newspaper article scene 'Mark Fendell' is one I randomly came up with. It's fictional, so any resemblence to anything that may have happened in real life is purely coincidental. However, 'Brian Irons' is the actual name of the R.P.D. chief in the Resident Evil franchise. You may have noticed that this is the longest chapter so far. I can't tell if the next ones are going to be like this, that depends on how much inspiration I get. So far though, no writers block yet.

Also, I know I'm sorta dragging out the story, but i don't want to drop into the actual plot too suddenly. But I guarantee to you that we're getting there.

Tomo : Heehee, this is gonna be fun, I know it!

Kagura : I still have a bad feeling about this...


	4. Pure Terror Revealed

_Chapter 4. Read the summary closely, I'm super serial!_

_I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil, unfortunately._

_If I did, this would have been an anime , a movie and a videogame already._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 4 : Pure Terror Revealed

Tomo walked through the halls on the ground floor in a fast pace. She would have to hurry or else her cover would be blown, as a bathroom break that long would be too suspicious. She peered into the cafetaria, but there didn't seem to be a door there that would lead outside. To her frustration, most hallways seemed to lead to a dead end. However, there was one hallway that ended in a door. The tag on the door read : "stockroom."

Out of curiosity, she looked around if no one was around, opened the door and peeked inside. It was quite dark in there, but she could see several food and cleaning items all stacked up on racks. More importantly though, there was indeed another door at the end of the room.

Tomo gently closed the door behind her and turned on the lights. She walked towards it and pushed down the handle, and to her relief, the door wasn't locked. She slowly pushed the door open, and as she did, she felt a lukewarm breeze stroking her face, indicating this door did lead outside.

"Bingo" she thought to herself, "this is our ticket out of here."

She shut the door, turned off the lights and left the stockroom. She had a content look on her face since she didn't get caught.

She hurried back to her room, because she had been gone for long enough now. Luckily, the four girls already appointed that they would leave somewhere around midnight, but only if Yomi and Chiyo were already asleep.

The moment of truth was closing in. The lights in the hotelroom were off, but the moonlight illuminated it just enough to see silhouettes. Although it was a well filled day, Tomo wasn't tired at all, she was just getting pumped for what they were about to do. She could already feel the adrenaline flowing through her body.

"Hey, Osaka" she whispered just loud enough for Osaka to hear, "is Yomi asleep?"

Osaka squinted her eyes, trying to see Yomi's face in the darkness.

"Yes, I think she is" she replied while nodding.

Tomo turned her head to Kagura. "What about Chiyo-chan?"

"Sleeping like a rose of course" responded Kagura, while giving a thumbs up.

Tomo pressed the light switch on her watch. It was now 5 minutes to midnight.

"Right on scedule" she thought.

"Okay, let's go" she whispered, trying not to wake them up.

Slowly and making the least noise possible, the 4 girls got dressed. Tomo grabbed 2 flashlights from her suitcase and handed one to Osaka. She then took the camera she got from Chiyo, and put the foldable pocketknife she bought the other day in her pocket, as well as the compass she brought from home.

As they were now all set to go, Tomo made a handmotion towards the door. Tiptoeing, they carefully made their way to the door, trying not to bump into anything.

But before Kagura could even put her hand on the doorknob, the lights suddenly went on, scaring the hell out of them.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice sounded from behind them.

The four girls' hearts suddenly went into overdrive, as they realised they were caught red-handed. With an awkward smile, they turned their heads to see Yomi wide and well awake, like she wasn't even sleeping to begin with.

"Ah, hehehe, Yomi! You're awake?" Tomo blurted out with a shaky voice.

"So it seems!" she responded with a smile that didn't predict good news.

Yomi wasn't angry when they admitted what they were planning. She was furious! But for the sake of not waking up the other people that were staying in the hotel, she tried really hard not to yell too loud.

"One thing I have to ask you" Yomi snarled, "are you people really that freaking stupid?"

Tomo, Kagura, Osaka and Sakaki were undergoing Yomi's preaching like spanked dogs.

Yomi continued "I can't believe you are all willing to go out there even after hearing about what happened to that man! What if you all went missing too?! What would I have to say to your parents?"

The girls remained silent, not really having the guts to go against her. Even Tomo was biting her lower lip.

"I could have expected a stunt like this from you Tomo. But you Sakaki! I'm really dissapointed in you!"

Sakaki gasped for a brief moment, then turned her head ashamed, clearly having her feelings hurt.

Kagura, starting to feel guilty, tried to defend Sakaki. "It's not her fault, we talked her into it. Osaka too."

Yomi paused for a few seconds, and then sighed "I know Kagura, and the one who talked you into it was probably Tomo. I'm sorry Sakaki."

Sakaki still had her head turned away, but staring at the floor now.

Tomo however, shut her eyes half way and brought her eyes to the corners, showing no real feeling of guilt.

She suddenly spoke up "well, I don't care. If you guys don't wanna go anymore, that's fine by me, but I'm still going."

Tomo gested herself towards the door, but was interrupted by Yomi.

"Wait! We're not done talking yet!"

Tomo stopped in her tracks. Even though she was determined to leave, she decided to hear her out anyway.

"It's bad enough that you deliberatly put yourselves in danger, but what bothers me even more is that you kept all this a secret to me."

Tomo thought for a second, still having her back turned to everyone.

"If I asked you, you would have just told us not to go, and tried to stop us in any way, am I right?" she replied in a serious tone.

Yomi's face looked shocked, but realised what Tomo just said was probably right.

"I thought I was your friend Tomo" she said in a disgruntled and somewhat dissapointed voice.

After this there was an awkward silence nobody dared to break.

After about 10 seconds however, Tomo turned around, her face restored to the usual, with a wide smile.

She chuckled and said "Of course you are! But you are just a little too strict about these kind of things. But you know what? I'll still let you come along if you want!"

Her face in disbelieve again, Yomi yelled "Wait, have you even been listening to anything I said? It could be dangerous out there! I can't just let you go out there!"

Tomo laughed it away "Awww you're worried about me? How sweet! No need though. Remember that knife I bought yesterday? I can defend myself with that."

Because this conversation was a little too tiring for her, Yomi gave up.

"You know what? Fine, go then! But don't come crying to me when something happens. And no, I'm not going."

Tomo looked up to the ceiling. "Too bad. I just thought it would be fun if you came along as well. Oh well."

Tomo turned around again and opened the door.

"I'll be off then, bye!" she waved.

Yomi looked at Kagura, Osaka and Sakaki "It's okay, you can go too if you want, but be careful out there. And look after Tomo."

The three just nodded silently, and followed Tomo out of the room.

Yomi leaned backwards sitting on her bed and placed her hand on her face. She took a long and deep sigh.

But then she noticed that Chiyo was awake, probably from the whole commotion.

"Chiyo-chan? How long have you been awake?" she asked the little girl surprised.

"Pretty long, I heard almost everything, I think."

Yomi smiled at her "sorry about that, go back to sleep now."

"No, it's okay" said Chiyo with a worried look on her face, "but is it really fine to just let them go? Shouldn't we go with them?"

Yomi sighed once again "I told them it wasn't a good idea, and they didn't listen to me. If they really want to go, I'm not going to stop them anymore."

Chiyo pondered for a few seconds, but then gave her a surprisingly sharp reply.

"But what if they went missing, wouldn't you be really worried about them?"

This comment struck Yomi like a speeding bullet. Chiyo was right! If they didn't happen to come back, the worries would probably kill her. Although she didn't really approve of the idea, going with them was probably the best answer, for the sake of her own nerves too.

"Good point Chiyosuke. Come on, let's go. Otherwise we would just be worried sick."

Chiyo smiled and nodded "okay!"

While Yomi and Chiyo were quickly getting dressed, The others where slowly descending the stairs, as quiet as they could.

"Man, who does she think she is, my mom?" Tomo grumbled.

"She's probably just worried about us, you shouldn't be angry at her" Sakaki tried to justify Yomi's reaction.

"Hmpf, I guess, but we can take care of ourselves can't we?"

As they reached the ground floor, they quickly saw that the turning door was out of order, so there was no way to get out through the front, as expected. Tomo lead them to the stockroom where the alternative exit was. They were only half way there when they could hear the bell of an elevator coming from the lobby.

To this, Tomo started panicking. "Shit, are we gonna get busted again?" she thought to herself.

But no, from around the corner, Yomi and Chiyo popped up.

"Ahah, there you guys are" Yomi said in relief, "I thought we weren't gonna catch up to you."

"Yomi! Chiyo-chan!" Kagura called out. "What are you doing here?"

"I changed my mind, I'm coming with you. But only because I would be worried otherwise."

"That's great" Osaka cheered, "It's always more fun when we're all together."

"But Chiyo-chan is coming too?" Tomo interrupted, "Aren't you gonna be scared?"

Chiyo tried to toughen up. "No I won't!"

"Okay, whatever you say" she laughed. "Come on, the exit is this way!"

The group, now all together, went through the door in the stockroom, which, luckily, was still open. The girls now found themselves in the back parking lot of the hotel. Even though it was night, the temperature was still nice, so they were glad they didn't wear any extra clothing.

Tomo turned to them excited. "Okay, this is the last chance to turn back, so if someone doesn't want to go, go back now!"

"Let's just get on with it" Yomi pushed her.

The nightlife of the city was quite weak. There weren't many people on the streets. Occasionally, there was a group of people the girls preferred not to get in contact with, so they did their best to avoid them.

After a half an hour walk, the girls made it outside the city borders. Only a few miles in front of them, they could see a large mountainous area, completely covered with trees.

"There it is..." Kagura broke the silence.

"It's so dense" Chiyo said nervously, "I hope we don't get lost in there."

"Don't worry" Tomo comforted her, "I have a compass, remember? So what are we waiting for? Let's go!". Tomo energetically pointed towards the forest and started marching.

In the forest, the moonlight was mostly blocked by the trees, so the group shone their flashlights to see where they were going. There was an eerie silence, only the sounds of crickets and owls could be heard. After plowing through the bushes and the low branches, they found a small dirtroad. This would make navigating a lot easier.

As they made their way deeper into the forest, the amount of trees increased seemingly, blocking pretty much all of the natural moonlight they could rely upon. Now, they were at the mercy of their flashlights. Surrounding them, was nothing but darkness.

Chiyo, who was clearly losing her nerve, latched on to Sakaki, comforting her a little bit more. Sakaki at her turn, trying to bring the nervous little girl at ease, took her by the arm and smiled warmly at her.

"How long have we been walking now?" Kagura asked no one in particular.

"I dunno" Tomo answered shrugging, "20 minutes maybe?"

"The forest is getting really dense here, watch your step everyone!" Yomi informed them.

"You know" Osaka began, "maybe Tomo-chan was wrong, maybe there are monsters here!"

At this comment, Chiyo became even more scared, tightening her grip on Sakaki's arm.

"Haha, yeah, who knows!" Tomo laughed out loud. "Maybe they're gonna pop out at any minute now!"

"And then they'd probably take the smallest of us with them and eat her" Kagura added, while turning her head at Chiyo and grinning.

Chiyo began producing small tears of fright at the thought of being devoured by monsters and began shaking uncontrollably.

"C'mon guys, that's not funny, you're scaring her!" Yomi snapped at them, cutting off their little prank.

They continued to march forward, Tomo clearly having fun with the creepy athmosphere.

Eventually, they saw a hint of moonlight in the distance, indicating that there was an open location. They came across an open field. The moonlight shone bright here so everything in the vicinity was well visible. They also noticed that the pathway went uphill from here, and that there was a small river flowing down south. They decided to follow another path northwest from the field. After walking through another dense part of the forest, they were forcefully brought to a halt by a high cliff. They looked down the cliff. It was at least 20 meters deep, and way too steep to descend it from here. However, the girls were treated to a breathtaking view over the forest and the hills.

"So guys, still think this was a bad idea?" Tomo said thriumphantly.

"Whoaaa, it's so pretty" Osaka gasped.

Chiyo walked towards the edge, not too close since it was a long way down.

"You're right!" Chiyo cheered.

Yomi and Sakaki enjoyed the scenery in silence. Since nothing has gone wrong so far, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, they thought.

"Say, how about we take a little rest here" suggested Yomi, who saw a great opportunity to take a breather.

They all agreed. They sat down as the warm summernight breeze helped them to relax.

Tomo used her camera to get some nice shots from the cliff, until Kagura noticed something in the distance.

"Hey, Tomo, look! Over there" she said while pointing somewhere in between the trees.

Tomo zoomed her camera in at where Kagura was pointing. She saw a large house, located in a somewhat open field. There where some trees surrounding it, but not that many. She estimated it was about a mile away from where they were standing.

"What is it, did you see something?" Yomi asked while getting up.

"A mansion!" Tomo exclaimed, "There's a big mansion over there!"

Yomi peered over the scenery, at where Tomo was pointing her finger.

"Hey yeah, it sure is big"

"Do you think we could go there?" Tomo asked, with curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Are you serious? Don't you think we should go back now? We've been walking around here for at least an hour now."

"Heeeeeh?!" Tomo yelled dissapointed, "Already? After we made such a discovery?"

"Hey, you got what you came for, you had your fun. It's time we headed back." Yomi disciplined her.

Tomo pouted, but against her own will, she agreed. They made it this far after all.

They followed the pathway near the end of the cliff, figuring they would find another path that could lead them out of there. As the path went downhill and eventually went back to ground level, they followed the path that went back down south. They once again found themselves in a dark part of the forest, so they switched on their flashlights again.

"So, wasn't it fun?" Tomo sparkled.

"I guess so" Yomi answered, "But I hope for your sake that we find our way back."

Tomo turned around and started walking backwards. She smiled widely, "Hey, of course we'll be alright, don't underestimate me!"

"Yeah yeah, just watch where you're going" Yomi sighed.

Tomo chuckled. But Yomi's words weren't even cold yet, or Tomo suddenly tripped over something and fell straight on her butt.

"Auwch" she complained while rubbing her sore spot.

"I told you so, didn't I?" Yomi said while pushing her glasses straight.

"Hahaha, you clutz, too bad you couldn't film that huh?" Kagura laughed heartily.

But her laughing soon turned into a wide-eyed expression when she saw what it was that Tomo tripped over.

"Oh my..."

Suddenly, Chiyo screamed loud and sharp and was on the verge of crying, and Sakaki started to turn pale.

Confused, Tomo picked up the flashlight that fell out of her hand, and shone it at the base of her feet.

Tomo's eyes now wided at what she saw. At her feet was a maggot infested corpse in a furthered state of decomposition. It was missing both eyes as if they were gouged out, and most of the face seemed to have been chewed off beyond recognition. The torso was covered in deep gashes and most of the intestines were either pulled out, or missing. The left hand was missing all 5 fingers and the right arm was just ripped off at the elbow, leaving the bone sticking out. The legs, that were partly in the bushes, had bite marks all over, and several chunks of flesh seem to have been taken out of it. The large amounts of blood had sunken into the dirt, coagulated and dried up, leaving the corpse in a large, dark-red circle. A trail sprouting out of the blood pool indicates that the person was most likely dragged after death. It was a grotesque, putrid mess.

Tomo scrambled to her feet and covered her mouth and nose with her hand, blocking the horrid smell and keeping herself from throwing up. Yomi, who was speechless at the sight, made gagging noises and ran to the nearest bush to empty her stomach. Sakaki, now as pale as a glass of milk, looked like she was about to pass out, while Chiyo was latching on to her, crying. Osaka just stared at the remains in a state of shock and Kagura was frantically twitching all over her body, not believing her own eyes.

It took a while for the girls to calm down, but what used to be a state of horror and fear, now turned into a state of panic.

"That's deffinetely him" Yomi stated still in a shaky voice, "that man from the article who went missing."

"What are we supposed to do now?" Kagura panicked, "If we report this to the police they will know we snook out here!"

"How could you be so selfcentered?" Yomi snapped at her, "We have to tell them, for the sake of this poor man's family."

Tomo interrupted, "Wait, even if we tell the cops, how are we gonna explain to them where the body is?"

Yomi thought about this for a second. "Maybe we should go with them. We could lead them here, but then we'd have to remember exactly what path we took to get out of here."

Kagura pulled out her cellphone, but there was no reception in the woods.

"I guess we don't have a choice" she sighed.

Yomi put her hand on her forehead.

"Dammit dammit DAMMIT!!!" she cussed out loud.

"Okay, let's get out of here, the sooner the better. Sakaki! Chiyo! Let's go."

Sakaki, who was trying to comfort Chiyo, turned her head and nodded agreeing.

Osaka, however, was still staring at the corpse.

"Those wounds... it's like....he WAS attacked by a monster..."

Kagura walked up to her and put her hand on Osaka's shoulder. "Come on Osaka, we're leaving..."

Kagura hadn't even taken her hand off Osaka's shoulder, when they could hear a rustling sound coming from the bushes at their left. They all grouped together, trying to find exactly where the sound was coming from. As the rustling became louder and louder and seemed to come closer and closer, the girls' hearts began to race faster as well.

After a short 15 seconds which seemed to last hours, they could finally see a segment of the bushes moving. Someone or something was finding it's way to the road. They all aimed their flashlights at the said spot.

Not saying a word, the girls stared at the shaking leaves. They stared until they finally saw something walking out of the bushes. It was...

"A dog?" Sakaki said surprised.

Indeed, out of the bushes came a large Doberman, sniffing around the ground as if it was looking for something. But there was something wrong with it.

"Oh no, look! It's wounded!" Chiyo noticed, "the poor thing."

The dog had several open wounds, ranging from shallow cuts to deep gashes. Also, it walked a little funny.

"Maybe it got stuck in barbed wire or something" Tomo guessed, "Do you think it may be lost?"

Sakaki, who can't stand to see an animal wounded, suddenly spoke up. "We should take it with us and bring it to a vet!"

Yomi sighed, "we already have a lot on our hands Sakaki, but since we're going back anyway, I guess we could..."

"Hey guys, look!" Kagura pointed with a shaking finger.

The dog was now sniffing the mangled corpse lying on the ground, and suddenly sunk it's teeth in the neck. It ripped off a decent slab of the rotten flesh and swallowed it just like that.

The girls could once again feel their stomachs turn as they watched the Doberman feasting on the decomposed body. But while the dog was enjoying his meal, they noticed something that disturbed them even more. While one side was only covered with cuts, the other side of the dog was completely torn up. In many places, the fur and the skin was gone, leaving the muscle tissue naked. The head had most of the flesh removed, so a lot of it's skull was visible, and the eye was dangling out of the socket, only attached by the nerve. It was a creature they thought they could only see in their worst nightmares. This dog shouldn't have been alive, but it was.

"Wh...wha..what is this thing?" Tomo stuttered terrified.

Nobody could answer her. They never saw something like this.

"A...a monster?" Osaka brought it up again.

When they thought it couldn't get any worse, 2 more of them jumped out of the bushes, and another one came running down the trail. They were all in an equally bad state. Pieces of meat barely hanging from their bodies, skin torn apart, ribcages and bones exposed, and one of them even had its entrails dangling out of its belly.

"What? More of them?" Kagura jumped up startled.

The 4 dogs started ravaging through the cadaver like maniacs. Growling, barking and grunting, they teared off the remaining flesh and swallowed it down in one gulp until there was nothing left.

The girls, too scared to even move, witnessed the disgusting feast, and it quickly made them nauseous. The crackling, crunching and squishing noises didn't help at all.

Tomo, watching the scene in disbelief, raised her camera and started filming. Something like this should be caught on camera, no matter how vile it is, she figured.

Yomi carefully turned her head without taking her eyes off the bloodcrazed hellhounds. "I think it would be a good idea to leave quietly, don't make any sudden movements!" she whispered.

The girls slowly took a few steps backwards, one by one to make sure they wouldn't get noticed. Unfortunately, they were already too late.

One of the dogs, now hungry for fresh meat, raised its head and looked Yomi straight in the eyes. As they could feel the cold sweat raising up, and their hearts almost pounding out of their chests, the creature growled and flexed its muscles, getting ready for the attack.

"Shit! RUN! RUN!!!"

* * *

Wata : Oooooh a cliffhanger! I bet you're wondering what's going to happen now! As you had probably noticed, this one had quite a lot of gore in it, so I wasn't kidding when I rated this fic M. I had a lot of fun writing this, but the Cerberus (the dogs) scene was pretty hard. And it's only going to get harder and harder from here on. Also, it's the biggest chapter so far with over 4000 words, obliterating chapter 3's record.

Yomi : Ugh, seriously, you have issues...

Wata : lol, maybe ^^. Check back for chapter 5 in a while.


	5. Rats In A Cage

_Chapter 5, done and done_

_I would like to thank Coca Cola, 4chan, Death Metal, J-Core, Cigarettes, Chocolate and Silent Hill (for providing the needed recreation)_

_And of course, you, who are reading this, and Keshi-sama, for giving me the positive feedback. Much appreciated man!_

_I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil_

_Enjoy and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 5 : Rats In A Cage

"Shit! RUN! RUN!!!" Yomi shouted, "C'mon! Go!!!"

Not having to be told twice, the girls took a few fast steps backwards, turned around and started running like a bat outta hell. Not even a split second later, the canine gone beserk barked twice and franticly started pursuing its new prey. The 3 other dogs, with the shards of flesh still between their teeth, followed only seconds later.

In the middle of the escape, Chiyo and Osaka obviously had trouble keeping up, since they weren't able to run that fast. So Sakaki grabbed Chiyo by the arm, before she fell too far behind, and Kagura did the same to Osaka.

"Come on Osaka!" Kagura pushed her on, "Keep running, and don't look back!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Osaka panted, already out of breath.

"That lousy pocket knife isn't gonna help us now huh!" Yomi said to Tomo, in between gasps for air.

"Sh..Shut up!" Tomo snarled back in a similar fashion.

As the six ran for their young lives, they could hear the galloping and the huffing sounds of the nightmarish creature that was right on their trail. While the dog was almost breathing in their necks, they shone their flashlights to see where exactly they were running off to.

The girls could already feel the burn in their legs, but the adrenaline kept them going. But little Chiyo, who could no longer keep up with Sakaki's fast pace, suddenly stumbled over her own feet and fell face down on the ground with a loud thud. Sakaki, who had lost her grip on Chiyo's arm, looked behind her and saw the deadly creature quickly closing in on the poor girl.

"Chiyo-chan!" she yelled out.

She knew she had to do something quick, or the little girl would be turned into dogfood. She stopped in her tracks and dashed towards her fallen friend.

The others now hit their brakes, seeing the tall black haired girl sprinting towards Chiyo.

"Sakaki-san! Chiyo-chan!" Kagura screamed, as she saw her 2 friends only a few metres away from their doom.

Realising there was no time to pick her up and start running again, Sakaki quickly gathered all her courage and met the rabid Doberman head on.

"What the hell is she doing? Sakaki!" Tomo panicked.

As the dog took a leap, ready for the attack, Sakaki lifted her foot from the ground, and like it was a football, she landed a powerful, well aimed kick right on its jaw. After a short whine, and an unsettling snapping sound, the dog was launched back into the bushes where it came from, leaving a thin trail of dark blood behind.

The rest stood with their mouth wide open, speechless and dumbfounded by this sudden display of bravery.

Tomo broke the silence. "Alright Sakaki! What an amazing kick! Like a professional martial artist!" she cheered.

"That was so cool!" Osaka said in a monotonous voice.

"Did Sakaki just kick a dog?" Yomi muttered puzzled.

"Forgive me..." whispered Sakaki.

Chiyo looked over her shoulder and looked up at the girl who had just saved her life.

She started sobbing. "Th..thank you Sakaki-san,...I...I was so scared!" she sniveled.

"It...was nothing" she replied, "you're safe now." She helped the little girl up.

"Oh no we're not, look!" Kagura suddenly yelled.

The 3 other dogs that had a false start were now storming up to the group. Not interested in avenging their fallen comrad, as they only wanted their flesh as their food.

"Oh crap! The others!" Tomo cried out, almost having forgot about them.

"No time for a break, run!" Yomi rallied her friends.

Sakaki once again grabbed hold of Chiyo, hoping she would not trip again. She knew she was no match for 3 of them at the same time.

Without stalling, they continued to run and run without looking back. Behind them, the dogs were making scary, bloodthirsty grunts as they where slowly catching up to them. But before them, they could see the moonlight again, realising they were almost back at the open field which they came from. When she saw this, Tomo suddenly got an idea. The moment they reached the field, she yelled

"This way! Come on!"

Having no time to question her lead, they obediently followed her as she started to run west.

"It has to be around here, please be close!" she thought hopingly.

In this area, the grass was taller, and the trees, although not that many, seemed to be dead, creating a spooky background. The moonlight however made it a lot easier to see.

Just when they thought they couldn't run any more, and the dogs were getting too close for comfort, Tomo finally spotted it.

"Over there!". She pointed towards the mansion that they saw from the cliff as it was slowly revealed from behind the trees surrounding it.

"The mansion!" Yomi exclaimed. "Sakaki! Give Chiyo to me and go open the door!" she tried to say, with her voice being cut off a few times due to breath shortage.

Sakaki, although getting exhausted, agreed, left Chiyo in Yomi's hands and sprinted off as fast as her body allowed her to.

She arrived at the large double door and pushed the handle down, but to her horror, it seemed to be blocked! With her blood pressure skyrising, and even more sweat making its way to the surface of her skin, she tried to push it down with all her might, putting as much of her weight on it as possible.

"Sakaki, hurry up!" it sounded from behind her. She bit her teeth and gave it another powerful yank, and she could finally feel it budge. It suddenly shot loose, and she pushed her body against the door to open it just in time for the others to storm in.

"Shut the door! Quickly!" Yomi ordered her when everyone made it inside.

Sakaki slammed the door shut just in time to hear a loud bang coming from the other side. She pushed the handle up, locking the front doors. For a few more minutes, continuous scratching and barking could be heard, until it finally died off. Sakaki gave a big sigh of relief and let herself sink to the floor while leaning against the wooden doors.

"Oh man...that was a close call!" Tomo said while panting and sweating heavily, her face turned completely red. She fell to her knees on the carpet floor.

Osaka was down and out. She let herself fall to the floor, trying to catch her breath again, too tired to even say something. Chiyo was about in the same state, breathing heavily with her eyes closed as if she had an asthma attack.

Kagura bended over, leaning on her knees. Although she was athletic, the situation she was just in took a lot out of her. Her breathing returned to normal after a while though, and she took a look at her new surroundings.

The girls had run straight into a large hall, most likely the main hall of the mansion. Right in front of them was a large staircase which lead to a platform and at the back of the platform was something that looked like a painting, but they couldn't make out what it was. At the left and the right side of the platform were two smaller stairs which lead to the second floor balcony. All the stairs were coated with a red carpeting, which began near the front doors. At both sides of the large staircase were two more stairs leading down to somewhere, probably below the back. Suspended over the main hall was a walkway connecting the left balcony to the right, supported by two beautifuly decorated pillars with two large candleholders in front of them. Above them was a beautiful chandelier with 5 large lightbulbs. The floor was tiled with square, beige tiles and where as clean as a whistle. As for doors, at the west side of the hall was one double door, and at the east, directly on the opposite was another double door, and a single door more in the back. This is all the girls could see from there.

"Wow, whoever lives here, I bet he must be loaded with cash" Kagura commented.

Tomo, who had just stood up again, moved her camera around to get some footage from the gorgeous hall. But then she heard Yomi's voice beside her.

"Hey, Tomo, could you look over here for a second?"

Tomo turned her head to her puzzled, and recieved a heavy suckerpunch on her right cheek, making her topple over and drop her camera to the floor.

"Auwch! What the hell is your problem?" Tomo snapped at her, rubbing her cheek and with a small tear welling up.

The others, who witnessed this sudden outburst, ran over to Yomi.

"Oi, what are you doing Yomi?" Kagura yelled to her confused.

"My problem is you Tomo! In fact, you're OUR problem!" Yomi raged, furious like no one had ever seen her before.

"Look at what you've done! You've put us all in danger. Those things out there, whatever the fuck they are, almost killed us all! To make matters worse, for all we know, we could be trapped in here! And all because you, Tomo, wanted to take a midnight walk in the forest!"

Tomo now had a sad look on her face. "But Yomi, I..."

"Shut up!" she snapped, "I don't want to hear it! We should have just let you go alone, then only you would be stuck out here instead of all of us."

Tomo's eyes widened and looked away hurt, not saying a single word.

"Stop it!!! Stop fighting eachother!" Osaka yelled, which was a rare thing for her to do. "We should stick together. There is a way out of here, I know there is, we only have to find it!"

"Osaka is right." Kagura followed up. "If we wanna get out of here, we have to work together like we always do. We can't do that if we start having fights. So calm down Yomi!"

Yomi looked at them as they were pleading to give her anger a rest. She took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards the small window next to the main doors. She looked outside and saw the dogs circling around in front of the door, waiting for an opportunity to strike again.

"Those things... there's probably more of them. How are we ever going to get out of here using even a back door" she asked herself out loud.

As they all huddled up to discuss what they were going to do, Tomo had sat herself on the stairs, just staring at the camera on the floor she hadn't even bothered to pick up.

"Tomo-chan, are you okay?" she heard a voice from beside her.

She looked up to see a concerned Chiyo standing next to her.

"I'm fine..." she answered bluntly.

"Are you sure? How's your cheek, does it hurt? Let me take a loo..."

"I said I'm fine!!!" she now shouted. Tomo shot up and angrily grabbed the camera from the floor. She wandered off to the east side of the hall, descending the small set of stone steps leading down, leaving Chiyo behind worrying.

"Tomo-chan, where are you going?" she called out to her, but to no avail, she didn't answer.

The others, who saw what just happened, called Chiyo back to them.

"It's okay Chiyo-chan, just let her go, she probably won't leave this hall" said Kagura.

"She's really angry now..." Osaka pointed out.

"She'll be back. Tomo is never angry for long, I know her good enough" Yomi reassured them. "Now, what are we going to do?"

"I think.." Sakaki spoke up calmly, "I think we should take a look around here, maybe we'll find something."

Yomi nodded, "Okay, good idea. The mansion is huge, so we should start off on the first floor."

Meanwhile, Tomo was still sulking beneath the large stairway. She sat opposite of a big metal fence-like door. Between the bars, she could see that it lead way down, maybe to a basement or something. On the doors where two octagonal indentations, as if something was taken out of it. However, she didn't feel like investigating, she didn't care. All she was thinking about were the words Yomi last said to her.

"I should have gone alone huh? Should have been trapped in here all by myself?"

As she was slowly getting the chewing feeling of guilt creeping up on her, she was suddenly ripped out of her dreaming state by a sound.

She barely heard something that resembled the rattling of a chain, and also a soft moaning seemingly coming from the bottom of the stairs. She slowly stood up and stood right in front of the door. She peered in between the bars, but there was only darkness down there. Pulling or pushing the door was pointless since it was locked somehow, although there was no apparent keyhole. Eagerly, she turned on her camera and started filming, and then turned on her flashlight, and aimed it down.

There was nothing. She only saw the uneven buried out floor covered in puddles that made it look like it wasn't a basement, but some sort of crypt. She didn't see very much though, as the ray of light was stretched out. And yet she was sure she heard something. Was she going insane?

"There it is again!" she thought to herself, as she could now hear the rattling a second time. In full suspense, she continued to stare down the stairs, half of her wanting to see it, the other half not. She stared and stared until...

A hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder, making her jump a good while in the air.

"Wow, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Tomo sighed deeply. "Kagura... don't sneak up on me!"

"I said sorry" Kagura replied. "What's the matter, did you see something?"

Tomo glanced down the stairs one more time, then shook her head.

"Nah, nevermind."

Kagura looked at her with a questioning face. "Well anyway, are you coming? We're going to check out this house, the others are waiting for you."

"Yeah, Yeah okay"

"I must have been imagining things" Tomo thought to herself.

As she saw Kagura and Tomo coming back up the steps, Yomi carefully turned the doorknob of the double door on the west side of the hall. She pushed the door open, and saw a large room, again with a second floor balcony above them, with a checkered floor and a huge table in the center. The only thing filling up the silence was the ambience of a ticking clock.

"What is it Yomi-san, what can you see?" Chiyo asked her.

"A dining room..." she answered. "The coast seems to be clear, come on."

They all marched in one by one. The room was well lit, but they still didn't feel very comfortable, especially since there was a row of big windows, and knowing that those dogs were still out there.

They all scattered themselves across the room, looking for something that they could defend themselves with in case those dogs decided to leap through the windows. Unfortunatly, the only things useful were the small copper candleholders spreaded across the dining table. Since Tomo still had her knife, this would have to do. Osaka, who was looking through the back of the room, made an unwelcome discovery.

"Hey, you guys, come take a look at this!" she shouted across the room.

They all hurried around her to see what she found. They saw a small puddle of red liquid which could only be blood.

"It's blood, and it still looks fresh" Osaka pointed out.

They now quickly realised that something here wasn't right. The dogs were outside of the mansion and so far they found no clue of intrusion. No shattered windows, nothing. In other words, the blood couldn't have come from the creatures outside.

"Whose do you think it is?" Kagura pondered.

"Hell if I know" Tomo responded.

But then they noticed that a small drip fell down into the puddle, causing a small wrinkle. They slowly looked up, and saw a bloodied hand sticking out of the railings on the balcony, with a drop falling from the pinky finger every now and then. Shocked, they all took a step back.

"Oh my god!" Yomi shouted.

"No way! What the hell is going on here?!" Kagura cried out in disbelief.

Chiyo was now shivering and weeping at the sight of the second corpse today, and Sakaki again tried to calm her down.

"Who or what did this? It couldn't have been one of those dogs could it?" Tomo quizzed.

"Beats me" Yomi answered, "but something really weird is going on here..."

"Yeah, no kidding" Osaka joined the conversation again.

Yomi glanced at the door they have not yet opened. "Tomo, Kagura, go see what is behind that door, and if you find something, give a shout."

They nodded a bit nervously, and slowly turned the handle of the door. Once in, the door fell shut behind them. They now found themselves in a dark hallway. The lamps on the walls seem to have died out, and since there was no light switch found, they figured they were probably broken. The only thing that illuminated it was a bit of moonlight shining in through a window at the shorter end of the hall. They switched on their flashlights and shone it throughout the darker part, but they saw nothing. They walked towards the window and saw a thick pack of clouds approaching, with an occasional flash coming from them.

"Perfect! Like this place isn't creepy enough already" Kagura sighed.

Tomo turned her head to the right and saw another door, as well as a couch and a table with some items on them that didn't seem too useful. She pulled open the drawer on the table and found a clip inside.

"Hey, check it out!" she called to Kagura, "It's a handgun clip! And it's full of bullets"

"Huh? What's it doing here?" she reacted surprised.

Tomo shrugged.

"Well, we don't even have a handgun, so we can't really use it can we?"

"Yeah...but I should take it with me, just in case."

With that said, Tomo put the clip in her pocket. But then there was a short thud, like someone just fell on the floor. The two girls jumped up and stood still in the hallway, shining their flashlights to the end. The thud was followed by a rythmic shuffeling sound, that made their hearts beat in their throat. They saw a figure coming from around the corner.

"It's a person!" Kagura exclaimed.

He was limping forward and seeming somewhat oblivious to his surrounding.

"Look at how he walks. Maybe he was attacked by those dogs outside too" Tomo guessed.

"Sir, are you alright?" Kagura tried to call out to him. The man didn't answer however.

"There's blood on his clothes, look!" Tomo pointed to his shirt, which was stained with dried blood. Tomo walked over to him.

"Hey, are you wounded? What happened to you? Are you listening?"

Tomo reached out to him, but before she could even touch him, the man grunted, threw himself at her, grabbed her by both shoulders and, with a loud groan, spread his mouth wide open and pushed her over.

* * *

Wata : Yet another cliffhanger! To my surprise, this chapter went pretty smooth too. I even came up with some fresh ideas while writing it. I'm taking a really short break to come up with some new ideas, but don't worry, I'll be back soon. I hope you enjoyed the story so far.

Tomo : Whaa, that's creepy! And Yomi punched me in the face!

Yomi : Felt good.

Tomo : HEY!


	6. Dead Man Walking

_Chapter 6_

_Did you know that when you spell Azumanga backwards, you get Agnamuza? I just wasted 5 seconds of your life._

_I do not own AD or RE_

_Read and review  
_

* * *

Chapter 6 : Dead Man Walking

"Ehm... is it really such a good idea to let them go alone?" Sakaki questioned as she saw the door to the hallway fall shut.

Yomi turned to her and answered "They'll be fine. They may be idiots but they can take care of themselves for a while. Besides, we'll cover more ground faster this way."

"Well, that's true but..."

"Don't worry. If something goes wrong we can jump in at any time" Yomi reassured her. "But for now, let's see if we can find something else here that can be useful."

Yomi looked at the hand above her again and got a troubled look on her face.

"What happened here?!" she thought to herself.

Then her eye caught a shield like object placed in an indentation right above the fireplace. Next to it were two candles and above it was a real shield with two crossed swords over it, making it look like some kind of weird altar. It was a bronze emblem with a few decorations on it. She took it out and it was quite a lot heavier and thicker than she thought.

"What's this?" She turned it around a few times but there was nothing really suspicious about it. Seeing no real significance in it, she just placed it back.

Meanwhile, Osaka was staring at one of the many paintings in the room. This one grabbed her attention as it was a depiction of two knights dueling with sabers. The knight on the right had his head skewered by the other's saber, while he had stabbed his broken off sword into the left knight's chest, piercing his armor. This disturbing image had Osaka in somewhat a state of fascination, although she wasn't sure what the point of this piece of art was.

While Osaka was contemplating and interpretating the painting, Sakaki was still comforting Chiyo.

"Are you alright?" she asked with a warm voice

" Yes...I'm fine. But... this all just seems like a bad dream. I'm scared..." Chiyo stuttered.

"Hey, if something happens, I'll protect you like I did back there, so just stay by me okay?"

"Yes, thank you Sakaki-san." She formed a small smile, and Sakaki gave a smile back to her.

Yomi was spectating this little scene of kindness and gave a small chuckle, when she suddenly heard a spinechilling scream, followed by some unintelligible yelling. They all jumped up.

"That scream...that was Tomo!" Sakaki exclaimed.

Yomi nodded and ran up to the door, suddenly regretting letting them go on alone. "Come on!"

Yomi practicly kicked the door open before looking around franticly. "Tomo-chan! Kagura-san!" She quickly switched on her flashlight and shone it across the hallway. She saw Tomo on the floor, with a strange man on top of her, with his hands on her shoulders and his mouth making gnawing movements towards her neck. She was desperatly trying to push him off of herself, while Kagura was pulling from the other side.

"Aaahhh, get off of me you freak!" Tomo shouted.

"Dammit, let go of her! Guys, help!" Kagura pleaded.

Yomi quickly stormed up to them "Tomo-chan! Hang on!" She kicked the man in the face, making him let go and knocking him back, which gave Kagura the opportunity to throw him on the floor. Tomo stumbled back to her feet and grabbed the flashlight she dropped.

"Tomo-chan, are you okay?" asked Kagura.

"Yeah yeah, but that lunatic tried to bite me! What the hell is wrong with you!" she yelled at the violator.

Yomi shone her flashlight at the man's face, who had already gotten back up again. She saw that his eyes were glassy, almost completely white. His skin had a putrid dark color with several pieces of skin missing, and he gave off an offensive odour. His clothes seemed old and worn out, and large amounts of blood seemed to have soaked into them.

She turned her head to Osaka. "Osaka! Hand me that candleholder, now!"

Osaka nodded obediently and handed her the said item.

"You, back off! Don't come any closer, I'm warning you!" She held the candleholder in front of her like a sword.

The strange man didn't take heed to Yomi's warnings, and continued to slowly stumble towards the girls. Yomi now clearly began to lose her nerve and started shaking on her legs.

"I..I'm serious!" she stuttered, "I'll...I'll use this!"

Chiyo was clinging on to Sakaki's waist scared. "S..Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki put her hand on her head, "It's okay, Chiyo-chan. Yomi! Hit him! There's something terribly wrong with him."

The man now got into second gear and clumsily ran up to them with both arms stretched in front of him. Yomi screamed and, purely out of fear and self-defense, hit the man on the head hard with a loud clang. He let out a groan and fell flat on the floor, forming a small dust cloud as he landed.

"Good job Yomi!" Kagura cheered her on. "And good riddance too."

Yomi, who was still shivering over her body, was still holding the candleholder, now stained with a bit of blood and dented. She approached him and carefully poked him a bit with her foot. He was no longer reacting nor moving. She kneeled over with full caution, but the foul stench that met her knocked her back quickly. She pinched her nose and turned her head away.

"Man, this guy stinks!"

"I'll say! You should've smelled his breath!" Tomo said before sticking out her tongue in a disgusted manner.

Yomi continued to observe the motionless person. "But this is no normal stench. He smells rotten! In fact, he looks rotten too, and his eyes look dead. What on earth is this thing!"

"It's a zombie!" it suddenly sounded from behind them. They looked behind to see Osaka with a serious face. She continued, "A walking dead body hungry for brains, like in the movies!"

Yomi looked at her frowning. "A zombie? That's rediculous, there's no such thing as..."

Her speech was cut off by a sudden yell from Chiyo. "Yomi-san, look out!"

She looked, and the man was now looking Yomi straight in the eyes. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in.

"Aahh! H..help!" She tried to struggle free, but couldn't get out of the man's firm grip. Yomi lost her ballance and rolled over on the floor, so he was now on top of her, once again attempting to take a chunk out of her throat. As she pushed him on the shoulders, her face was now only few inches away from his. She thought for a moment that she was going to pass out from the awful smell, but then a bit of blood splattered on her face. Tomo had buried her pocket knife deep into the man's neck, and some thick, chunky blood squirted out of the wound. As she pulled out her knife, the body of the man went limp, now making it easy for Yomi to push him off. Tomo took a step back as the body fell with it's back on the floor, the blood now soaking into the carpet.

"Take that you creep! See, I told you this knife would come in handy!"

"Th...thank you Tomo..." Yomi said softly, still in shock.

"Are you alright? He didn't bite you did he?" Kagura asked concerned.

Yomi stood up again. "No, it was close though." she dusted herself off, "But this guy,...he's not human, no way he is!" She then brushed off the blood on her face with her hand, and she felt that the blood was coagulated.

"I told you he's a zombie!" Osaka spoke up.

"I'm having a hard time believing that, but whatever it is, we have to be careful."

A flash suddenly litted the room for a fraction of a second, followed by a loud crash. The thunderclouds had now made it right above them, and it started raining. The rain quickly turned into a downpour, and heavy winds started to blow. They now not only found themselves trapped in a mansion filled with weird creatures, but there was also a violent storm outside, making going out now even more dangerous.

Tomo was shining her flashlight over the now dead body looking for something useful. Her eyes fell on a handle of a gun sticking out of his shirt pocket. She carefully pulled it out. It was a fully loaded handgun.

"Wow, guys, look what I found! This guy was carying a gun!" she cheered.

"Hey! Be careful with that! You don't know how to shoot it!" Yomi said.

"What do you mean? It'll be fine. How hard can it be?"

"Ehm, guys?" Osaka spoke up.

"Hmpf, fine, but you'd better not hit any of us or you'll be sorry you hear me?"

"Guys?"

"Hey, don't underestimate me! I think I know how to pull a trigger, it's just a handgun you know!"

"GUYS!" Osaka interrupted their squabbling.

"What!?" they both barked.

"That zombie, it's still moving."

She pointed towards the floored creature, and indeed, it was still moving it's fingers, and soon started struggling to get up.

"What? No way! I stabbed him right in the neck! How could he survive that?" Tomo shouted.

Yomi then hid herself behind Tomo. "Tomo-chan, forget what I just said! Just shoot it!" she said nervously.

Moaning and grunting, the creature sat itself straight. Tomo held the gun and her light right in front of her and shakily aimed for the head.

"I...I'll make sure you don't get up again" she murmered.

Slightly hessitating, she pulled the trigger, and with a loud bang, the bullet struck the creature nicely in the forehead, piercing the skull and burying itself in the brain. A small fountain of blood sprayed agains the wall as the creature once again fell over, hopefully for good this time.

The recoil from the shot pushed Tomo back a little, but Yomi, who was right behind her, stopped her.

"Wow" Tomo gulped, "that was scary!"

"Yeah... is it dead now?" asked Kagura.

"It has to be! I shot it right in the head."

Yomi gave a long gaze towards the body, then spoke up. "L..let's go back to the dining room. I don't want to be around this thing anymore."

After going through this traumatising incident, the girls marched back into the dining room.

"I can't believe this is happening! This is like something from a horror movie, and I'm not a big fan of horror movies I can tell you." Yomi said while leaning against the dinnertable.

She sighed. "I'm actually starting to believe Osaka's theory."

"Me too" Tomo began, "That thing was just unreal! You think those dogs outside are zombies too?"

"Well that would explain why they were so badly torn up and all" Kagura reasoned.

"But...if they are zombies, then we can't get bitten by them!" Osaka spoke up.

They all turned their heads to her confused. "Why not?"

"Haven't you seen a zombie movie before? If you get bitten by a zombie, you become one yourself!"

They all shivered at the thought of becoming a walking corpse, and Tomo, Kagura, Chiyo and Sakaki gulped simultaniously.

"Whaa, she's right!" Tomo wailed.

"I...I don't want to become a zombie!" Chiyo sniveled.

Yomi put her palm on her face. "But this isn't a movie is it? This is real, and we don't know what happened here or what caused this, so we can't know if it is the way you say it is. Osaka, in those movies, what are the main causes for...well...zombies?"

Osaka thought about this for a second. "Well, it's usually voodoo, or a parasite or something, or..."

"or what?" Kagura asked eagerly.

"A virus" she answered calmly.

"A...virus?" Yomi repeated.

"Yes, a virus."

They all remained silent after this. If it was a virus, it would most likely be contagious, so a bite from one of those freaks would mean the same fate for them.

Sakaki suddenly broke the silence. "Well, anyway, let's go back to the hall. There's some more doors there that we haven't tried yet."

The girls nodded agreeing and silently walked back into the large hall. When they entered and made their way to the double door on the opposite side, they noticed something lying on the floor. It was yet another handgun and a small note.

Kagura walked up to them. "What the... This wasn't here before." She picked up the note and underneath it was a key. She then read the letter out loud.

_"If you wish to protect yourself, look behind the painting in the room on the east side of this hall. I left some necessary supplies there, as well as some more items that should be useful to you. Use them in order to stay alive."_

_"Signed : Anonymous"_

They all got a puzzled look on their face, but realised that they weren't alone in the mansion.

"So, there's someone else here? And he or she knows we're here." Sakaki responded.

"It could be a survivor. At any rate, we should have a look out for him, or her..." Yomi pushed her glasses up.

Kagura picked up the key and the gun, but it wasn't loaded. Tomo saw this and walked over to her and took out the handgun clip she picked up earlier.

"Here, put this in there"

Kagura clumsily pushed the clip into the base of the gun until it stayed there.

"Ehm, who's going to hold this?" She asked while holding out the gun.

"Can you fire it?" Yomi returned.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I saw Tomo do it, and it didn't seem that hard."

"Then you keep it. I don't think anyone else of us are comfortable with a gun in their hands. But I'm gonna say it again, check your fire, and be careful with that."

Kagura nodded. "Oh, okay then. Anyway, let's go check out that room."

True commando style, Kagura gently turned the doorknob, and both Tomo and Kagura dashed inside with the guns held in front of them, ready to open fire at anything that would stand in their way. The room seemed to be clear though.

"Okay, it's good, come on in" Kagura smirked.

Yomi sighed, "You know, it's nice that you put your hearts into it like that, but do you really need to show off?" to which they both snickered.

The girls looked around and Osaka said in her usual slow dull voice, "The letter said to look behind the painting, but there are so many paintings here."

The walls had several paintings hanging on them, and another eyecatch was a statue of a woman holding a jar across her shoulder. In the back of the room was another door, and a hallway leading somewhere in the back.

"This has to be some kind of gallery" Yomi pointed out. "Okay, let's look behind all these paintings then."

So they all spread themselves across the room, looking behind every painting on the wall.

Tomo's voice suddenly sounded. "Hey, Koyomi-kun, come over here for a second!"

Yomi walked up to her. "What is it?"

Tomo pointed up to the statue and there was a roll of paper sticking out of the jar. "I've been trying to grab it, but I can't reach it, not even when I jump."

Yomi looked at her and said "well, if you give me a boost I can get it for you."

"Heh? No way! You're too heavy, I can't carry your..."

A red angry vein popped up on Yomi's forehead and her glasses condensed, right before she delivered a smack straight on Tomo's head, cutting off her sentence. "What was that?!" she snapped.

"Ow ow" Tomo crouched holding both hands on top of her head, "but it's true! You give me a boost and I'll get it."

She huffed, "Fine then, you get it!". With that said, Yomi sat down on her hands and knees, allowing Tomo to step on her back and reach for the roll.

Chiyo witnessed this little scene. "Even in a situation like this, they're still at it huh?" she smiled slightly, getting comfort in knowing that she was here with her best friends.

"Ugh, hurry up! You're gonna give me a hernia!" Yomi complained.

"Yeah yeah, hang on, I almost got it." Tomo stood on the tip of her toes but barely was able to reach the paper.

"Ah, gotcha!" she sheered, and jumped off Yomi's back. She rolled it open and it appeared to be a map of the mansion.

"Oh, it's a map of this place!" she reacted.

"I see, that will come in really handy, better keep onto it." Yomi said while getting back on her feet. She glanced at the map and was amazed by the huge amount of rooms, and this was just the first floor!

Afterwards, they all regrouped to discuss their findings.

"So, did anyone find something?" Yomi asked the group.

"No, nothing, we checked behind every painting, but there was nothing suspicious." Kagura sighed.

"Say, what about over there?" Osaka pointed down the hallway in the back.

They all walked down the narrow hallway which was filled with several pictures and statues, until they stumbled upon a large painting of a house on the floor in the corner. It was large enough for a person to walk through it. The house looked mighty familiar to them.

"Ehm, is that a picture of the mansion we're in now?" Kagura quizzed. She knocked on the painting and heard a hollow sound. "I think this is it!"

She tried to push or pull the painting, but it didn't budge. Then she noticed a small keyhole which was nearly visible. Without hessitating, she took the key she found in the main hall, pushed it in the hole and turned it. A satisfying click followed, indicating that the secret door was now open.

"A secret door disguised as a painting? I wanna have a word with the architect." Tomo joked.

Kagura pushed the door open, and what they found in there was...

"A dressing room?" Kagura reacted puzzled. "This oh so secret door leads to a...dressing room?"

Everyone else was just as confused and dumbfounded. There were two racks stuffed with clothing items and big mirrors in the back.

"Well this is stupid." Tomo spoke up, "What does that guy from the note want us to do? Dress up appropriatly?"

Yomi walked forward towards the back of the room. "No, I think I found what he was talking about." In front of her was a small pile of handgun ammo, as well as a shotgun and some shells.

"Oh my, a shotgun!" Kagura exclaimed.

"Well that's just great" Yomi sighed, "A handgun is fine, but how is any of us going to handle such a big weapon!"

After a moment of silence, they all turned their heads to a certain busty, black haired girl, including Chiyo.

"Huh? Me?" Sakaki responded nervously.

"It's obvious that you are the strongest of the group, so I think you are the most suited to use it!" Yomi explained.

"B..but, I never fired a gun in my whole life! I...I don't think I can..." she stuttered.

Kagura patted her on the back. "C'mon, you'll do fine! Remember that day at the festival? You were great!"

"Y..Yeah but, that was different, that wasn't a real gun!"

"So? Just pretend that you're at a shooting gallery, except when you shoot it, you have to brace yourself, or else you'll fall flat on your butt!" Kagura laughed.

Sakaki nodded agreeing, although she wasn't sure if she could handle such heavy firepower.

Yomi placed the cannon in Sakaki's hands, letting her get a feel for it. "Oh, one more thing" Yomi mentioned "There's not much ammo, so use it only if you really need to."

Sakaki nodded yet again.

"Everyone, put these on! I found them next to the shotgun" Yomi held out 6 leather belts with small packs attached to them. "These will be useful if we want to take items and ammunition with us."

The girls all strapped on the sidepacks at their waist.

"Man, this is cool! I feel like a real soldier now!" Tomo sparkled.

"No kidding, but whoever wrote that note must have known there was six of us." Kagura pointed out. "When we find him, we should at least thank him."

The group collected the ammo into their sidepacks, and were all ready to move out again.

"Okay, is everyone ready? Let's continue our investigation!" Yomi rallied them.

With their chances for survival increased significantly, they opened the door and walked back into the gallery.

* * *

Wata : phew, that one was tough! It may have been a bit short, but it was the hardest one yet! I hope you think I did a good job though. if not, I'll try harder on the next chapter. BTW, for those not too familiar with Azumanga, the reason why Yomi got pissed because Tomo said she was too heavy, is because Yomi is very insecure about her weight, and has even tried out several diets. But most of you who are reading probably knew this already. I don't know why though, I think Yomi looks fine!

Yomi : errr, thanks, I guess *blush*

Tomo : Hahahaha

Yomi : Do you have something to say you brat?

Wata : ehm, well anyway, see you next time!


	7. Macabre

_Chapter 7_

_I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil. This fanfic was written purely out of love for both series._

_I'm gonna go grab a sandwich now!_

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 7 : Macabre

The six girls seemed to be running out of ways to go. The door in the gallery was locked, and so was the last one in the main hall on the first floor, and they both had strange symbols etched under the keyhole. Sticking to staying on the first floor, they didn't want to climb the stairway just yet, as Tomo recalled seeing some more doors in the dark hallway where they had their first encounter with the creature which Osaka referred to as 'a zombie'.

"Do we really have to go back there?" Yomi gulped.

"Don't worry, I shot it through the head remember?" Tomo glanced at her. "There's no way it could have survived that!"

"That's what you said when you jabbed your knife in its neck. How can you be so sure?"

"The only way to kill a zombie is to damage the brain, or to chop its head off." Osaka spoke up.

"You seem to be enjoying these explanations. It's almost like you're a specialist on these kind of things." Yomi said frowning.

"Cool! Osaka the zombie specialist!" Kagura sparkled. "I didn't know you were into horror movies."

"My dad likes them, and he makes me watch. But I'm usually too scared to watch them alone..."

"Oh, I see"

They made their way through the dining room again, and entered the hallway, which was now even darker because of the moonlight being completely cut off by the dark thunderclouds. The flashes of lightning created a gloomy, unsettling athmosphere. The only sound was that of rain crashing against the window, and an occassional thunderstrike. Once again relying on their flashlights, they searched the hallway for any door that would open, staying as far away from the still, decayed corpse as possible. To their dismay, almost all the doors seemed to be locked as well. They didn't bother to check the one down the stairs, as it seemed a little too creepy to head down there already. During all this, Tomo scanned the area with Chiyo's camera, capturing some damn scary footage the kid scouts around the campfire could only dream of obtaining. In fact, she figured that she would be able to scare the shit out of those kids with the stories she could tell if she got out of here.

After investigating, they concluded that the only door open was the one next to the window, the one Tomo noticed when Kagura and she first got here.

"So, are we going in?" Sakaki asked hessitating with the deadly shotgun in her hands.

"Hauu, we don't have a choice do we?" Chiyo weeped with big puppydog eyes.

"Nope" Kagura grinned, "but don't worry Chiyosuke, we'll protect you. Just stick to Sakaki. She has the biggest guns around here after all."

Kagura laughed heartily at the pun she just thought of, Sakaki blushed madly and Chiyo...didn't get it.

"Okay you goofballs, we're going in now" Yomi ordered. "Tomo, Kagura, lead the way!"

Carefully, Kagura turned the handle on the door and took a peek inside. It was yet another dark hallway, with a silent squeeking noise coming from somewhere further into it. As far as she could see, there was no zombie or anything else in eyesight. Just darkness, and a little hint of moving light coming from around the corner. Tomo followed her in, with the gun in her left hand and the camera in the other. The rest followed after, with Sakaki and Chiyo in the back. Not really sure what to expect behind the corner, Kagura leaned back against the wall and carefully peered around it. She saw a birdcage, and the chandelier seemed to be moving, causing the silhouettes of the shadows to rock back and forth. Also, a set of stairs which lead to the second floor, but again, no monsters. Kagura nodded to the rest of the group.

"Okay, it's clear."

When Yomi saw the staircase, she sighed "Looks like we're being forced to the second floor here. Oh well..."

They continued through the hallway, but around another corner was something that startled them, even though it was beginning to become a common sight for them.

Another dead body sat against the wall, its torso slumped down. It was covered with deep puncture wounds, and an eye seemed to have been pecked out. Its terrified expression showed signs of struggle, before collapsing due to the wounds. A small pool of dried blood surrounded it, indicating that it wasn't a fresh kill.

"Oh no! Not another one?!" Yomi exclaimed.

Tomo got a little closer, not completely comfortable. "But this one doesn't look like he was attacked by a zombie! It's more like he was killed by birds or something."

"Birds?" Osaka took a look at the birdcage behind her, and there was a small dead bird inside, probably neglected for too long.

"Well, whatever the case, we should get out of here before he decides to stand up again." Yomi interrupted. But as soon as she did, a loud cawing echoued through the room. The girls looked up to where the sound came from, and in a small open window with wind billowing in sat a large crow. It sat motionless, minding its own business, occasionally flappings its wings dry from the pouring rain outside.

Yomi whispered "Tomo-chan, you said killed by birds right?"

Tomo just gulped and hummed positively.

"Then I suggest we slowly get out of here. Don't startle it..."

With throbbing hearts, they ascended the croaking wooden stairway, making the least noise possible. Even though they were so close to the big bird halfway the stairs, it only stared at them. A cold, protruding stare that made the sweat seep out of their pores. Having made it to the top of the stairs without causing too much ruckus, and opening the door, they got a small feeling of relief. But they didn't get much time to breathe, since behind the door was yet another hallway, well lit this time, and yet another dead body greeting them. This one was laying face down on the floor, its head and hands pointing towards a door. It seemed a little different though. Besides the chunks of skin and muscle missing, the skin had a crimson red colour, as if the blood had been forced to the surface of the dermis. Also, small sharp shards of bone sprouted out of the fingers, making it look like it had claws.

"Now what the hell is this thing?" Yomi pondered. "It doesn't look like a regular zombie at all!"

Yomi shook her head, not believing she just said that. As if zombies were regular. She could be expecting anything out here.

"Psshh, hey guys, over here!" Kagura whispered.

She stood in a small segment connecting the hallway to another one. "There's one of those freaks right now, look!"

Osaka, Tomo, Yomi, Chiyo and Sakaki peered behind the corner, and there was another undead creature standing in a corner, in front of a large mirror, with its head faced away from the girls. The mirror was placed in such a manner that it reflected the next part of the hallway around the corner, and the zombie's face could be seen. However, the zombie could not see the girls from where it was standing.

"Okay Tomo, this one's mine! You can have the next one." Kagura smirked.

Kagura walked up into the hallway and concentrated her aim at the monster's head. When she was focussed enough, and her hand was as steady as it would get, she squeezed the trigger. Unlike Tomo's shot, that just buried the bullet in the brain, this one literally shattered the zombie's skull, causing half of the head to explode. This splattered a great deal of blood against the mirror and the surounding walls, as well as some fragments of the brain either falling on the floor or sticking against the mirror and sliding down afterwards. With blood squirting out of the gaping open wound so far to almost touch the ceiling, the zombie didn't get a chance to even groan before plummeting down on the carpet, continueing to bleed dry. What could be seen throughout the gory and bloody mess, was a bullethole cracking the mirror, indicating that the bullet went straight through the head.

"Booyah! Did you guys see that?!" Kagura cried out. "That was a grade-A headshot!"

Tomo stood in total awe. "Oh...oh wow! I'm not sure if that's supposed to be totally disgusting or totally cool!"

The others were just standing there, not sure how to rate Kagura's shot. "Ehm...that was...interesting...I guess" Yomi said with a sweatdrop rolling down her face.

Sakaki, who wasn't comfortable with the grotesque scene herself, covered Chiyo's eyes, to which the little girl responded with a small voice "Too late Sakaki-san, I'm no longer sleeping at night." Sakaki then removed her hand.

"Wow, that was even better than in the movies!" Osaka said dryly, before getting an awkward look from everyone.

They checked the door that was there, but surprise surprise, it was locked! They then carefully made their way through the squishy bloody mess that Kagura had induced. This part was filled with several spears and other ancient weapons which were firmly stuck to the walls, so they could not be removed, as well as some more busts and statues. In the back of the hallway it turned again into another corner, and with a mirror placed exactly the same way. In the reflection they could see a figure standing still.

"What? Another one?" Tomo whispered.

"Uh oh, no need to whisper Tomo, we've been spotted." Yomi shouted.

Because the mirror was placed in the same way as the previous one, the zombie could see the six-headed group as good as they could see the zombie. It slowly stumbled from around the corner, arms stretched out, making deep and sorrowful moans as it shuffeled towards the fresh, tasty flesh.

"Shit!" Tomo braced herself and raised her gun at the height of her shoulders, trying to aim for the head again. This was, however, very hard because the head was wobbling left and right with each step it took.

"What are you waiting for Tomo?! Shoot it!" Yomi yelled.

"Crap, I can't get a clean shot!" she cursed.

To at least slow the monster down, she opened fire at wherever she was able to hit it, striking it several times in the chest and a few times in the shoulder. The zombie was knocked back a bit, but stayed on its feet, paused for a split second, then continued its slow but menacing march. Increasing the distance a bit, the group took a few steps back, and Kagura joined in the firefight. They fired a few more rounds, none were direct hits to the forehead, until the monster succumbed and fell on its knees, the rest following a bit later, hitting the floor headfirst with a loud thud. The blood and pus oozing out of the many bulletwounds formed a small puddle, and the creature no longer moved.

Tomo leaned on her knees panting and sweating, her arms still shaking from the multiple recoils, but also from fear. Kagura blew away the smoke from her gun, allowing it to cool down.

"Phew, this isn't as easy as it looks... that was too close."

"Do you think that was enough to kill it?" Tomo wondered, still catching her breath.

"I think so. We managed to damage it pretty badly. I'm sure some of those bullets went straight through it."

While Tomo and Kagura where having this discussion, Chiyo noticed an arrow sticking out of one of the busts. She tried to pull it out, but she just wasn't strong enough.

"Sakaki-san, could you help me with this?" she asked her.

Sakaki silently nodded, put her shotgun down against the wall, and pulled with all her might. It budged, and finally came loose. It was a golden arrow with an green emerald like tip.

"What's that?" Osaka asked the duo.

"Whaa, it's pretty!" Chiyo's eyes sparkled at the beautifuly coloured stone.

Sakaki looked through the the tip. "I think this is a real emerald. Do you think we could use it for something?"

"You should keep it! I think it's worth a lot of money!" Tomo exclaimed.

Kagura placed her hands on her hips. "And if not, maybe you can use it to stab one of those things in the eye" she joked.

Carefully stepping over the now immobilized zombie, the finally found the end of this hallway. There were two doors, one locked, the other open. So naturally they went through the one that was open, and they found themselves on the second floor balcony, the one right above the dining room. It was a lot darker up there than it was down below, and the large windows on the sloping ceiling were creaking because of the heavy winds pushing against them, and masses of water were streaming over them. So far, fortunatly, they appeared to be holding themselves. From here, the violent lightning bolts were frighteningly well visible. Over all, it was a scary, but breathtaking sight. There was nothing on the balcony, except for a suspicious looking statue of a man standing in the back. But then they realised they were on the same balcony where they saw the bloody hand, the one that formed the puddle below. They shone their flashlights at the exact same spot, but the body, if there ever was a whole body, was gone! The only trace of it was the blood covering the wooden floor, which had already dried up mostly, but still was relatively fresh.

"I think..." Yomi broke the eerie silence, "I think we might start fearing the worst here guys."

Osaka looked up to her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that what you said was right. The person that was here was most likely killed by one of those zombies. But the body is gone now, which means it probably got up and walked away" she figured out.

"What you're saying is, it's contagious?" asked Sakaki.

"Yes." Yomi turned around and looked over the room. "I don't get it. I can't find any logical explanation for what's happening here. Dead people don't walk around, it's physically impossible. Their blood is coagulated, their flesh is rotten, their eyes are dead, but they still walk!" Yomi sighed and leaned with her elbows against the railing, crossing her arms. "I...I hope this is all just a terrible dream."

The rest stayed silent, absorbing Yomi's words. One for one, they all wished they were just having a nightmare, but it seemed they were living one instead.

Yomi pulled herself together from her gloomy mood, turned around and faced the team again. "Anyway, whatever happened here, I think we should at least try to figure out who or what's responsible. Tomo, you keep using that camera to capture as much as you can. Something like this must be brought out to the public so actions can be taken against it. But more importantly, we have to find a way out of here, alive, and all of us. So let's not waste anymore time and get going!"

After this motivational speech, everyone nodded, feeling ready to take on whatever was in their way. But not long afterwards, Tomo got another crazy idea.

"Hey, Kagura! How about we push this statue over the ledge over there and see what happens?" Tomo said while pointing towards the statue and the part of the balcony that was missing the railing.

"Ehm....why?" Kagura responded confused.

"Dunno, that statue just seems fishy to me"

With that, Tomo pushed the statue towards the gap, with Kagura gawking behind her, not sure what the big idea was.

"What the..." Yomi looked up to the wildcat, "what in the name of Hades are you doing???"

"Heehee, here goes!" She shoved the statue off the ledge, and it landed on the checkered floor down below with a loud crash, making Chiyo jump up at least 3 feet in the air, crumbling it into hundreds of tiny pieces.

"Sweet! Awesome!" she cheered.

Yomi stormed up to her and without a warning, slammed her on the head once again. "ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND?! Do you WANT to draw attention to us?!" she yelled with the red vein over her head, and her teeth looking ready to bite her head off.

"Ow!" she put her hand on the place on her head where she was hit. "No, but look, I was right! Something fell out of it!"

Rolling out of the now shattered statue was a blue, shiny stone, looking like a sapphire. It spinned around a bit before toppling over like a spun out top.

"Errr, how...how did you know that?" Kagura stared in disbelief.

"Intuition!" she replied with a finger in the air.

"I believe you mean pure luck induced by idiocy" Yomi murmered.

Having no more business there, they went through the double door which, as they expected, lead back to the balcony on the main hall. Not really sure where to go next, Tomo pulled out her map.

"So, on the first floor, we checked all these doors, and we've been through all of them that were open. So I guess we can investigate this floor now?"

"What about that one over there?" Osaka pointed down below the small set of stairs on the platform. "Isn't that a door too?"

It was the same door they all noticed when they first ran in the hall, but back then, they didn't even realise it was a door. It looked more like a painting to them.

"You're right!" Kagura said, "It has a handle. Fancy checking it out?"

They all huddled up around the door, and Kagura cautiously opened it. As the door was only ajar, they felt a cold breeze meeting them, so this door most likely lead outside. Kagura peered through the crack, but her eyes widened when she saw what was behind it.

"What is it?" Chiyo asked.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know!"

Kagura opened the door completely, and through the drapery of rain and gusts of wind, several broken graves were visible. It was a small burial ground. A cemetary.

"Oh no. No no no no no. No way I'm going through there" Yomi stated with her hands waving in front of her.

"Why not? Scared?" Tomo challenged her.

"Well, yeah!"

"I know what you mean Yomi" Kagura gulped.

As one half of the group protested against going through the dark graveyard, the other insisted that they should at least take a look. After all, there may be something useful there. They finally decided to split up into even groups. The ones that didn't want to go would stay behind in the hall until the other half got back. The stay behind group consisted of Chiyo, Osaka and Yomi, while Tomo, Kagura and Sakaki decided to go, since they were the ones that were armed.

"Okay then, here goes" Kagura gathered her courage. As she took the first step outside in the pouring rain.

"Hey guys, be careful out there! And get back here as soon as you're ready" Yomi called after them. Tomo made an aye aye sign at her, and followed Kagura out. Sakaki followed close behind.

Chiyo sat down at the top of the stairs, looking over the main hall. "I hope they will be okay."

Osaka sat beside her. "A graveyard really is the worst place to be at a time like this huh?"

"Don't worry, they have guns. But I hope Tomo doesn't do anything stupid again." Yomi assured them, sitting down next to Chiyo and Osaka.

Outside, the weather and winds were even more terrible than they believed, having a hard time staying on their feet and their visibility being grossly limited. At least the rain felt relatively warm, since it was a midsummer storm. But still, since they were only wearing T-shirts, the wind and rain combined made it a chilly experience. Only a few seconds out and already soaked to the bone, they slowly marched through the deep puddles and the muddy dirt. The patches of grass stroked against their legs in the wind, and the many flashes of lightning were followed up quickly by loud cracks of thunder.

"Oh man, it's like a hurricane out here!" Kagura yelled throughout the noise.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Tomo yelled back, water dripping down her chin and hair.

Barely able to keep their ballance, they found a large concrete wall in the back which was decorated with various figures. The most noticable one was a depiction of Cupid with a bow and arrow aiming up diagonally to the right. But where the tip of the arrow should have been, there was an indentation.

The three examined the wall, and when shey saw the hole, Sakaki suddenly got an idea. She pulled out the golden arrow Chiyo found earlier.

"You think...I'm supposed to put this in there?" She wondered.

She turned the arrowhead, and indeed, it came loose. She looked at the emerald point in her hand now, and slowly reached her arm out towards the indentation. Like she was about to pet Kamineko, Sakaki gently placed the arrowhead in the hole, turning out to be a perfect fit. The wall suddenly started vibrating and making a rumbling sound, causing the trio to be on their guard, and a mechanism was triggered, causing a lid below the wall, large enough for a person to walk through, to slowly slide open.

"Well, that sure was weird..." Kagura said.

Behind the lid was a long stairway, leading deep down into what appeared to be a tomb. Flames flickering behind bars in holes in the walls caused shadows moving around franticly. Not intending to keep standing in the pouring rain, they descended the long, narrow, claustrophobic stairs. The three didn't know what expect down there, so they slowly paced down, without letting their guard down.

"I wonder what's down here" Tomo spoke up, although she didn't really want to know.

The fire used to light the place gave off a soothing, warm vibe, making them feel at least a little bit more at ease. They finally reached the bottom, only to be greeted by an overwhelming wave of heat, sounds of cogwheels turning, and a whole lot of thick chains hanging from the ceiling.

"Man, it's hot as hell down here!" Kagura noted.

"What is this place? Kinda looks like a crypt to me" Tomo quizzed.

"Ehm...guys?" Sakaki called to them. "Look!"

Suspended by 4 chains, a big red coffin hung across the room, looking over them as if something was about to jump out.

"Yikes, creepy!" Tomo shouted. "Think there's something in it?"

"Maybe we're better off not knowing"

Sakaki's eyes fell on a book upon a stone table in the back of the room. Suspiciously, she walked underneath the coffin and picked it up. The book couldn't be opened, but she found a key attached to the back of it. She removed the key, and as she did, the patch holding the book shut came loose. She looked on the cover and it read : The Book of Curse.

Curiously, she opened it, and read the next lines out loud.

_The four masks,_

_a mask that speaks no evil_

_a mask that smells no evil_

_a mask that sees no evil_

_a mask that cannot speak, smell or see evil._

_When all four fall into place, evil will awaken._

"Evil will awaken?" Tomo puzzled. "Do we really want that? And what was that about masks?"

"I don't know" Sakaki answered, "I don't get it either."

"I think I do"

Kagura pointed to four stone faces against the wall on the other side of the room. One of them had holes where the eyes should be, the second one where the nose should be, the third one where the mouth should be and the last one where the eyes, nose and mouth should be.

"Speak, smell and see. I get it, but then again I don't" Kagura shrugged.

"We'll remember this place, but let's go back now before the others get worried" said Sakaki.

"As if I would forget this place to begin with" Tomo reasoned.

They ascended the stairs, leaving the weird and scary tomb, and walked back into the the showering storm. While walking back to the stone steps leading to the door, Tomo felt a cold and wet hand grabbing her by the ankle.

* * *

Wata : Well, there ya go. Most of this chapter was written on one evening, all except the bit starting from the graveyard. I was just so into it that time slipped by in a heartbeat and I got to some pretty decent material. As you may have noticed, I slipped in some humorous parts, just for comic relief. I'm too much of a loose guy to be writing serious all the time. Also, during the puzzle sequences, I felt like I was spoofing the game, poking fun at some of the rediculous puzzles that come along. Who would get the idea to push a statue down a balcony to get a blue sapphire? Well, Tomo-chan apparently! XD

Tomo : Hey, why do the cliffhangers almost always involve me?

Wata : Because you're a glutton for accidents.

Yomi : And punishment too.

Wata : Look forward to the next one!


	8. When There's No More Room In Hell

_Chapter 8_

_I feel like I'm updating so fast. I really have nothing better to do._

_I do not own AzuDa or Resi. I only own this stomach turning monstrosity of a fanfic._

_Enjoy, you gorefiends!  
_

* * *

Chapter 8 : When There's No More Room In Hell...

The four masks,

a mask that speaks no evil

a mask that smells no evil

a mask that sees no evil

a mask that cannot speak, smell or see evil.

When all four fall into place, evil will awaken.

With a cold chill running down her spine, Tomo looked down at her feet. Out of the ground stook a hand, with two fingers missing, grabbing hold of her ankle tightly. Screaming, she tried to struggle free, but the grip was exceptionally strong. She felt like it was pulling its own body up through her, as the hand seemed to pull her down. Her feet sinking deeper into the wet soil, she lost ballance and fell backwards, making the hand finally let go. At the right from the hand, the second hand popped up, followed by a head pushing its way up through the mud, worms squirming in the eyesocket. Tomo witnessed this frightening scene, when a scream originating from Sakaki cut through the storm noises. All around them, heaps of soil were being pushed up, facilitated by the large amounts of rain soaked into it. At least 6 ghouls revealed themselves, looking like they were buried there for at least 2 weeks, if not more. They didn't seem to have been buried very deep, giving the impression that these people were casualties and were quickly put in the ground. The three unfortunate girls found themselves completely surrounded by the zombies, as they slowly stumbled towards them, saliva dripping from their teeth.

"Dammit! Where the hell did they come from!?" Tomo screamed, aiming her gun at the one of the two zombies right in front of her.

"Sakaki! This may be a good time to use that shotgun!" Kagura informed her.

Nervously, she aimed the big gun in front of her, bracing herself for the inevitable shock.

Tomo and Kagura opened fire, varying their aim from the one undead monster to the other, doing their best to get a one-hit kill. Two of the zombies fell down after taking too many bullets, but continued to crawl through the mud. Tomo concentrated her fire to the still standing zombie's head, and splattered it into many pieces, thick blood gushing out as it still took a few steps before falling over. She ran up to the crawling one and kicked it as hard as she could, snapping the brittle cervical vertebrae, and severing the already torn muscles, causing the head to come off, flying through the air before bouncing against one of the broken gravestones.

Kagura delivered a clean headshot to the floored creature, and in an attempt to bring the second monster to the ground, she fired a round through the kneecap, shattering it with a sickening crackle. Her plan, however, backfired as the zombie fell straight forward as if it threw itself at her feet, now grabbing her by the ankles and attempting to bite her in the shins. She aimed down and pulled the trigger, but instead of a bang, she heard a click. Panicking, she lifted her free foot and stomped it down on the zombie's head as a last resort, crushing the skull.

Sakaki was paralyzed by fear. Not able to pull the trigger, she just watched as the two remaining undead got closer and closer to her. Her lower lip trembling and her hands shaking, she just couldn't bring herself to fire the dangerous cannon she held in her hands.

"Sakaki! What's wrong?! Shoot!" Kagura yelled to her. She quickly let the empty clip fall out of her handgun and replaced it with a new one. But before she was even able to cover her, both zombies lunged out at the tall helpless girl, mouths wide open, drooling.

"No! Sakaki!"

In pure reflex, Sakaki let out a shriek of terror and squeezed the trigger towards her. The powerful, ear-deafening blast caused one of the zombies to be catapulted backwards, with a trail of blood, pus and viscera following it. It smacked against a steel fence and fell down, completely torn up and disemboweled. Sakaki, now covered with the creature's blood, couldn't keep her footing and stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet and falling down. The single remaining zombie followed her in this and let itself fall directly on top of her. Now wrestling with the undead monster, as worms and maggots fell down on her body, she quickly reached for the golden rod remaining from the arrow she picked up. She drove the pointy side of the rod in the side of the zombie's head, made a screwing movement with her hand, and pushed it through so hard that it eventually came out again on the other side. Its head now skewered as if was wearing one of those silly arrow-through-head hats, the monster's body fell limp, and Sakaki pushed it off. She stood up and looked at the massacre she had just caused with wide eyes, the rain washing away the blood that covered her, and crimson puddles forming when the blood and water mixed.

"Sakaki-san! Are you okay?" Tomo shouted as she ran up to the dazed girl.

"Y..yeah" she responded stuttering.

"Good thing you kept what was left of that arrow" Kagura spoke up with a hand on Sakaki's shoulder. "But why didn't you shoot them? Why did you let them get close?"

She looked around, still confused and her heart beating out of her chest. "I...I don't know! I just couldn't. These things...used to be humans just like us..."

"But they're not anymore" Kagura reasoned, "These people are already dead. They just turned into something I don't think they wanted to be. I think we're doing them a favor by killing them. I would ask for the same thing...I think."

They looked at the now completely dead bodies, and even now, they couldn't believe they just survived that. Not letting the others wait any longer, they climbed the steps and opened the door, happy to finally be out of the rain again.

They re-entered the hall, where Yomi, Chiyo and Osaka were still waiting.

"Ah, finally, there you guys are! I was starting to get worried. How did it go?" Yomi asked them.

"Oh, great!" Tomo said in a slightly sarcastic voice.

"None of you got bitten right?" Chiyo asked concerned.

"No, we're fine" Sakaki assured her.

"Ah, Sakaki-san, there's blood on you!"

Sakaki looked down on her shirt, and some traces of blood that didn't get washed off were still visible. "Oh, this? Don't worry, it's not mine."

"So did you find something?" asked Osaka.

They showed them the book they found in the crypt and the key that was attached to it. Upon investigating it closer, they saw a symbol of a sword etched on the back of the key. Tomo recalled seeing this symbol on some of the doors that were locked, so putting two and two together, they figured this key would probably open those doors.

"Where did you see these doors?" Yomi asked.

Tomo thought about this for a few seconds. "Oh, I think there was one in the gallery!" she spoke up, "wanna go check it out?"

The girls, now regrouped, ascended the big stairs and went through the double door on the east, back into the gallery. Sakaki took the key from her sidepack and looked below the doorknob. The same symbol like the one on the key was ingraved in it, so she put the key into the keyhole and turned it. A click indicated that the door was now open. She slowly turned the doorknob like they always do when entering a new area, and looked inside.

There was another hallway with a checkered floor, much like the one in the dining room, a few windows and some furniture, but nothing unusual.

Sakaki nodded, and went in, the rest following, Osaka all the way in the back.

"Hmm, nothing here huh? Good to get a break every now and then." Tomo noted.

Osaka peered outside the window. It was still raining heavily, and flashes lighted the otherwise dark surroundings. What she did see was a bunch of the dogs circling around, fighting and barking at one another.

"Looks like they're not getting along very well..." she said in her usual tone.

Kagura turned around at the space cadet who was still staring at the undead mutts. "Come on Osaka, let's move on!"

She turned her head and nodded. Then she looked outside one last time and her heart skipped a beat.

One of the dogs was now coldly staring back at her, drool seeping out of its mouth. Osaka took a step back when she saw the monster charging at the window, and right after she closed her eyes, it crashed right through it, shattering the window in many sharp pieces. She felt a cutting pain in her arms and face and a warm liquid flowing out of those spots. As she desperatly tried to pluck out the shards of glass out of her wounds, the dog who jumped over her was now growling, intending to rip the girl limb from limb. A gunshot and a well aimed bullet disposed of the critter, knocking it back a few meters, leaving a bit of blood to be splattered on the once clean floor.

"Osaka-san!" Tomo shouted, her gun still smoking. She ran up to the girl who was now in a state of panic and wailing from the pain. She grabbed her by the arm and was now face to face with another one, standing on its hind legs looking in through the broken window. It growled and Tomo legged it, dragging Osaka with her.

"Run! They're coming in!"

The dogs quickly jumped in one by one, 3 of them were now inside the same hallway as the girls. Sakaki opened the door, and hurried everyone inside. When everyone made it in, she tried to close the door, but something was stuck in it. She looked, and one of the dogs' head was trapped in the opening by the neck. Determined not to let it in, she kept pushing as everyone could clearly hear the neckbone starting to crack. Kagura joined her and with their forces combined the Doberman's head snapped off with a whine, falling to the floor with the eye and tongue still twitching. It looked like a most painful death, if the creature could feel pain, which made Sakaki want to hurl.

"Ow, ow!" Osaka sat down against the wall. Thin streams of red were flowing down her face and arms, the glass still sticking out of the gashes.

"Are you alright?" Yomi kneeled down beside her.

"It...it hurts! It really hurts!" she whimpered, her eyes starting to water.

Chiyo was slightly panicking, but was still a little relieved she was still alive. "Yomi-san, do something!"

"Relax Chiyo-chan. Osaka, let me take a look at that."

She checked her face and her arms, but there didn't seem to be any wounds that were too deep. Also, she was lucky that she didn't get any shards in her eyes. Quickly, and with yanking movements, she pulled out the shards sticking out, causing Osaka to hiss everytime she did. Even though it hurt her, she noticed because small tears were now rolling over her cheeks and she was biting her lower lip, this was the least painful way to remove the volatile objects. Everyone just watched as Yomi administered first-aid to the wounded girl.

After removing the last shard, she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and cleaned up the blood that slightly covered her face and arms, and dipped the wounds in an attempt to clean them.

"There, it's not so bad! They're only shallow cuts, it should stop bleeding very soon." Yomi said while smiling warmly, like she was a nurse that was treating her patient. The others were just stupified by Yomi's calm and sensetive actions.

"Wow, Yomi-san, you're like a regular doctor!" Kagura admired.

Yomi turned her head and smirked. "Nah, it was nothing, no big deal."

Chiyo kneeled over to Osaka worried. "Osaka-san, are you okay?"

Osaka looked at her with glossy eyes, still a bit watery. "It still hurts, but I'll be fine, I think."

"Of course you'll be fine. You didn't get bitten, so there's nothing to worry about. But I wish I had some bandages, or patches." Yomi said frowning. "Oh well, it can't be helped. Let's let Osaka rest here for a while until the bleeding stops. Maybe those things can smell blood."

She looked at her comrades, as if she was picking someone out for execution. "Hmm, Tomo-chan, you stay here and protect Osaka in case something happens. The rest of you, we're going to investigate this hallway" she ordered.

Tomo just grinned. "Aye aye captain!"

Yomi and Kagura entered the door close to the entrance of the hallway, while Sakaki and Chiyo ventured deeper into it. Closing the door behind them, Kagura and Yomi found a bathroom. There was a bathtub, a dirty sink and a toilet further in the back. There seemed to be nothing of interest in sight, but the bathttub was filled with dirty, murky, dark brown water. Needless to say, it smelled awful. Whatever polluted it, it had to be something disgusting.

"So ehm, Yomi, you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"If you're pondering about if we should pull the plug on it and see what's in it, you're right!"

They continued to stare at the sickly brown water for a while.

"Soooo...who's going to do it?" Kagura spoke up again.

"Do you feel called upon to do it?"

"No, not really..."

The two girls broke off their eyecontact and started staring again, a sweatdrop rolling down their faces.

Kagura couldn't take the tense anymore. "Okay then, here goes" she said while swallowing.

She carefully submerged her hand, already regretting it, and reached down deeper. Her face started making disgusted expressions as her arm was now almost completely underwater. She searched and frisked the bottom of the tub until...

She found the chain connected to the plug, grabbed it, and pulled it up. With a hollow gulping sound, the water went down the hole, and the bathtub slowly started draining.

"Phew, that was tense. I thought for a moment something was gonna grab me down there" Kagura sighed.

"Goog job Kagura, now wash your hand, errr, arm!" Yomi said with her thumbs up, which made Kagura sweatdrop.

Kagura rinsed her arm with some water from the tap, which was clear and clean to her surprise, but she couldn't help but notice that the smell just didn't want go away. The bathtub was now completely empty, but inside of it was nothing, except for a strange medallion. Yomi picked it up between two fingers and placed it underneath the tapwater, cleaning it before she was willing to put her whole hand around it.

Kagura looked at her with a bit of an annoyed face. "Hey, you do realise I just put my whole arm in there right?"

Yomi didn't react, but examined the medallion instead. It was a hexagonal crest with a depiction of a gust of wind on it. As it seemed important to her, she immediately stored it in her sidepack.

She smiled at Kagura. "Great job, but we're done here now. Let's head back!"

Kagura gave her an embarrassed look. "Ehm, you go on ahead, I have to..."

Yomi looked at her confused. Kagura made an eye gesture towards the toilet.

"Ooooh, of course! Right, I'll be outside then." she smiled.

While they were doing all this, Tomo and Osaka sat down against the wall of the hallway. Osaka was dipping away the small drops of blood coming from her cutwounds, still twitching and hissing a bit from the pain.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tomo asked her.

"Yeah." She managed to crack a little smile. "I think the bleeding is stopping. It still hurts a bit, but I'm fine."

"I see. That's good." Tomo diverted her gaze to the head of the dog lying on the floor. Even though the sight of it was morbid enough, she noticed a collar around the severed neck. She crawled to the head on hands and knees and tried to poke it off with the tip of her gun, because she didn't feel like touching it with her hands. It fell off and she picked it up.

"Huh, this dog was wearing a collar" she thought out loud.

"Maybe it belonged to someone..."Osaka guessed.

"I doubt that, but let's see here..." She took a good long look at it, and finally found a small, suspicious switch underneath it. Without doubting, she pressed it, and a small container attached to it opened, revealing a tiny medallion shaped object.

Tomo was now scratching her head, not understanding any of this. "What the hell, what was this doing in that collar?"

Not wanting to hurt her brains thinking about it, she went to sit back next to Osaka, examining the little object she had just found. Upon closer investigation, she saw a little etching of an armor, kind of like the one on the key they found in the crypt.

She now started grinning. "Ah! I wonder if..." She started feeling the medallion, and somewhere, she pressed a switch, causing a little rod to spring out of it, and forming two protrusions at the bottom. Because of this, it looked like a key, but it was in no way functional as one.

This puzzled Tomo even more. "Damn, it's a fake! what the hell are we supposed to do with this thing!?"

"I dunno" Osaka responded. "But maybe you should keep it."

Remembering all the weird puzzles she had encountered before, she could only agree with her. She put it in one of her sidepacks, and leaned back against the wall with her arms behind her head. "Man! This place is giving me a headache!"

"Me too" Osaka said as she wiped away another drip rolling down her forehead.

Only about a minute later, Yomi returned from the bathroom. They discussed their findings, Yomi explaining the crest they found in the bathtub, and Tomo telling her about the weird fake key she found in the collar. It didn't make much more sense to Yomi as it did to Tomo and Osaka. Now they only had to wait for Sakaki and Chiyo to return from their investigation, and of course for Kagura who was taking a bathroom break. It didn't take that long, maybe a minute before they could hear footsteps from the hallway coming their way. At the same time, Kagura returned too.

"So, what did you find?" Yomi spoke to them.

"Well, there was a door further down this hallway, but when we opened it, there was nothing but concrete in front of us." Chiyo reported.

"Concrete? That's weird..." Kagura pondered.

"But that's not all" Chiyo gulped for a moment. "There was blood coming out from underneath it."

This made everyone look up, and out of curiosity, they wanted to see for themselves. Chiyo and Sakaki lead them to the said door and opened it. There was indeed a wall of rough concrete in front of them, and a bit of blood oozing from underneath it. It was like the ceiling had come down and had crushed someone. Kagure leaned down and dipped her fingertip in the blood.

"It's still fresh..."

"I think this was a trap. Someone has been squished under this block." Yomi noted.

"Man, there's something terribly wrong with this mansion, and I'm not even talking about the monsters. This place is a deathtrap! We have to be careful from now on, there could be more of these traps around."

Everyone took note of this. None of them wanted to end up like this unlucky person.

"What about that door over there?" Tomo pointed to the double door that was behind them. "Did you check it already?"

Sakaki turned around. "Yeah, there was a zombie there, but I..."

"You splattered his head against the wall didn't you?" she grinned. Sakaki nodded slowly.

Now knowing that there was no more danger behind the door, Tomo swiftly opened it. There lay the remains of the monster, most of the head blown off, and what was left of it was equivalent to a sieve.

"Whoa, nice one Sakaki!" she smirked while giving a thumbs up. Sakaki however, wasn't into the whole beheading and shooting guns, so she didn't want to brag about it. She knew she had to do it to protect herself and the little girl that was with her. From here on, although she didn't like to admit it, their weapons were their only relief.

"So, what about all these doors?" Kagura spoke up. There were 3 doors in their vision, 2 to the right of them, and 1 on the left in the back.

"Ah, that one is unlocked" Chiyo pointed to the one on the right closest to them, "and there is another one behind the corner over there, but it leads outside to an alleyway or something."

They figured it was too dangerous to go outside already, so they went through the other door that was open. Once Tomo entered the short narrow walkway, she could hear the soft moaning coming from the room around the corner. Tomo and Kagura nodded at eachother, ready to dispose of this nuisance as fast as possible. But as soon as they turned around the corner to take care of it, the zombie seemed to be a little closer than they thought.

"Oh crap!" Kagura murmered, as she saw the bloodthirsty creature slowly stumble at her from only about two meters away. Taking advantage of the free room, Tomo and Kagura spread themselves over the room. Tomo walked a bit up the stairway in the room and Kagura increased her distance by quickly running past the walking corpse. The zombie, now seemingly confused and not knowing where to go, stumbled around and varried its gaze from the one girl to the other, as it ate lead from two sides simultaniously. One of Tomo's shots struck the zombie in the shoulder, causing its left arm to fall off. Eventually, it had enough, sank through its knees and slid over the carpeted floor like a seal.

"Looks like you have been unarmed! Hah!" Tomo cheered. Everyone else sweatdropped at the lame joke Tomo had just blurted out.

Tomo, who was still laughing, looked up and saw another one of the zombies on the balcony of the second floor, which could be reached by climbing the staircase Tomo was on.

"Heh? Uh oh! Sakaki-san, over here, come take care of this one!" she shouted.

Sakaki dashed forward and ran up the staircase at about where Tomo was standing, and aimed up at the zombie that was now standing directly behind the railing. Tomo covered her ears while Sakaki braced herself for the recoil. She pulled the trigger, firing a spreadshot of deadly hail at the ghoul, shredding its flesh and splintering the railing along with it. Like in one of those Wild West movies, the zombie plummeted to the first floor ground, landing directly on top of the other one. It moaned one more time, before every sign of life dissapeared.

They were now able to take a look at their surroundings thoroughly. Aside from the staircase, there were many paintings nailed to the wall, a large chandelier with 6 lightbulbs, some doors on the balcony, and 1 more door on the first floor. More importantly, there was another note stuck to the wall. Kagura, who was standing closest to it, tore it off and read it.

"It seems you girls are still alive. Good job. I left some more supplies in the room next to you, so use them wisely. Be careful though, those zombies are not the only things walking around out here. I hope we may meet eachother soon."

"Signed : Anonymous"

"It's from the same person" Kagura noted. "It's weird though, is that guy watching us?"

"What's even more weird" Yomi said, "How does this guy get around here? Almost all the doors we've checked are locked, so how did he get here before us?"

Nobody could give an answer, that was weird indeed. But not getting anywhere with pondering about a trivial mystery, they opened the door to see what the mystery man had left them this time.

They found a small room with a chest in the corner and some boxes and cannisters and other junk stacked up. Upon a small but high round table sat a lit lantern, giving off a pleasant warmth. On the floor were some more handgun magazines, shotgun shells and a first-aid kit. Also, some daggers were piled up, along with some straps for around the shoulder to store the daggers in.

"Well, how generous!" said Kagura.

Since they found this cozy room, they thought it would be a good idea to take a little breather. Yomi sat on the chest in the back, while the rest snuggled themselves around the lantarn that they had now sat on the floor. The warmth rays coming from the fire made them relax, putting their minds on something else besides the horrible mansion that they found themselves trapped in now.

"How's your wounds Osaka-san?" Yomi called to her from behind her.

"Huh? Oh. They stopped bleeding. Thanks" She said slowly, with drowsy eyes as if she was about to doze off.

Sakaki opened her shotgun and put in 3 new shells. Since a shotgun takes longer to reload, she figured she might as wel do it now instead of in the heat of battle. The words in the note worried her.

"Those zombies are not the only things walking around out here..." she mumbled inarticulately.

Her thoughts were cut off as Chiyo layed her head on her shoulder. The young girl had fallen asleep because of the warmth emitted by the lantern. She didn't want to wake her up already, but she knew she had to soon. She only smiled, and swore to keep protecting her.

Meanwhile, Tomo and Kagura were busy reloading their handguns.

"These guns...they saved our lives more than once didn't they?" Tomo spoke softly.

"Yeah. I guess they are our only hope now. To keep us alive I mean." Kagura replied.

After Kagura stuck a fresh clip in the slot, she noticed something she hadn't seen yet. She brought the gun in the light and on it she could see a symbol. Tomo leaned over to see it for herself too. On the handle of the gun was a star shaped logo, and underneath it, letters were readable.

S.T.A.R.S.

* * *

Wata : Longest chapter so far. A bit longer than the last one. If you have played Resident Evil Remake on Gamecube enough, you shouldn't have any problems recognizing the locations. I still try to describe them as well as possible though. Also, you may have noticed that I juggled some of the items around. The wind crest isn't in the bathtub, normally there's a dagger (if playing as Jill) or a small key (if playing as Chris) there. But for the wind crest you need to do that stupid bee puzzle, and I didn't want to do that. I also eliminated the dog whistle sequence from the game because I didn't want to recreate the game so literally. I feel like I'm doing that enough already. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, but it gets a bit hard sometimes. If you thought back about the game while reading this, my mission is complete.

Kagura : I figured I already played a game like this some time ago...

Tomo : I know! When the dogs first jumped through the windows, that scared the hell outta me!

Wata : Don't give away any spoilers guys, just to be safe. Anyway, look forward to the next one!


	9. Revelations

_Chapter 9, finally done!_

_I realize I say the word 'door' alot, but, sue me, there's a whole lotta doors in that mansion!_

_I do not own Azumanga or Resi_

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 9 : Revelations

"S.T.A.R.S?" Kagura read the letters on the handle of the gun out loud. "Where have I heard that before?"

Everyone thought about this, it sounded familiar. Suddenly a bell rang in Yomi's head.

"From that newspaper article! The chief of police said that they would send in the special force team, S.T.A.R.S! Special Tactics and something else."

"Special Tactics and Rescue Squad. You're right!" Tomo suddenly remembered.

Kagura looked at her gun again. "This is the gun we found in the main hall. It was left there by that person from the notes. Does that mean..."

"That this guy is from S.T.A.R.S, it's possible!" Yomi stated.

"That would explain why he had all those weapons and ammo and such..." Osaka pointed out.

"Exactly" Yomi winked at her.

"Hold on, something doesn't make sense." Sakaki interrupted, "If he is from the special forces, why hasn't he shown himself yet? Isn't it his job to protect us?"

Nobody could answer. Sakaki brought up an excellent point. If this person was a member of the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, he wouldn't have a reason to work in the shadows like this. If he was, he really wasn't doing his job very well.

"Maybe the gun is stolen?" Tomo quizzed.

"That would still leave the ammo and all the other stuff he left us. Where would he have gotten those?" said Yomi.

Tomo shrugged. "Maybe he's a dealer. But then he probably wouldn't just give them to us would he?"

"I wouldn't know, but it's not gonna help us if we bust our heads about it." Yomi sighed. "I just hope we find this person so he can clear all this up for us."

It was about time to move out after a 15 minute break. Sakaki woke up Chiyo, and they collected the ammo and equiped the shoulder straps with the dagger in the holder. This would make for an excellent last resort self-defense weapon. Yomi then placed the first aid kit in one of her side packs. All set, they left the safe and comfy room, ignored the two corpses on top of eachother, and climbed the stairs to the second floor again. They found another dose of doors, 3 in sight and probably one or two more behind the corner further down the hallway. Flustered, they checked all the doors again. The one in the middle of the hallway was locked, with an etching of an armor under the doorknob. Tomo remembered this from the fake key she picked up, but knew it wasn't going to work. The door behind the corner was open, and so was the one on the other extreme end. But the one near the latter simply couldn't be opened, as the doorknob seemed to be broken off.

"So, two doors open. What do we do now?" Kagura asked.

Yomi peered in through the door near the broken one and sighed. "Great, another hallway. And it looks really inviting."

She turned around again. "We temporarily split up again. Sakaki-san, Chiyo-chan and Osaka-san, you guys go check the door on the other side. Tomo-chan and Kagura-san, you're coming with me. We meet eachother here afterwards, and don't wander off too far. Got it?"

Everyone nodded and went their respective ways. Yomi opened the door, and Tomo and Kagura walked in the hallway. There was enough light to see, provided by several table lamps, so their flashlights weren't necessary. A broken mirror hung against the wall, many shards covering the floor below it, and many tables were spread out against the walls. The only other door in sight was one at the dead end of the hallway. Interpretating the structure of the mansion, they thought this door would lead to the room behind the door with the broken doorknob. They went to check it out, but not before Kagura picked up a wooden folder that was resting on one of the tables. It was a little dusty, so she blew off the dust that was covering it. She opened it, but on the inside was nothing but blank sheets of papers attached to each side. She didn't really see any significance to it, but decided to take it with her for now, holding it under her arm as it wouldn't fit in her sidepack.

Upon opening the door, they found themselves in what appeared to be a study room. A high table with a chessboard stood near the door, apparently ended in checkmate. In a dark corner was a desk, with no real objects of use on it. Behind the bookcase, placed in the middle against the wall giving the room a 'U' shaped form, was another desk, with a still lit lamp on it, several books scattered all over it. But most particularly, a diary lay wide open on the desk, next to a gold coloured zippo lighter. Yomi approached the diary, sat herself down by the desk and quickly looked over the handwriting. She flipped some pages until she found some entries that didn't seem to have been written too long ago. She read the entries out loud, allowing Tomo and Kagura to be informed as well.

_Those bastards at research have done it now! Always pushing themselves, working 24 hours a day. I knew this would happen someday. Spencer, that dumbass, I hope he's happy! From what I've heard, an accident has happened in the laboratories below this mansion, but no one in charge of this dump is willing to let us know what really happened. Instead they keep us here, keeping a close eye on us to make sure we don't leave. I heard one of our co-workers attemped to escape, but they shot the poor bastard before he could even get to the main doors. Damn, those assholes aren't playing around!_

_But I'm not fooled. I know what happened. That T-virus, that was rumoured to be stolen from Dr. Marcus, has probably been leaking out, literally. I don't know what it does, because those higher-up smartasses won't tell us, but it's enough to keep us in quarantine and make sure that none of us leave this place alive. I don't know what those idiots are up to, but I'm now fearing for my life as well. They apparently have already killed some of us for no reason, and rumours are going around that Spencer is behind Marcus' death too. How far some people are willing to go for power._

Yomi looked up from the diary after reading the left page.

"T-virus?" she murmered.

Tomo and Kagura remained silent behind her, but poked her on to continue reading.

_Goddammit! This place is really going down the crapper now. Some of the guards brought up some researcher who was apparentely going crazy, biting everyone that came too close to him. I don't know what kind of experiments those fuckers are doing down there, but I sure heard some crazy shit coming from below. Gunshots, screams of pain and other stuff in the middle of the night. Not a pleasant night of sleep I can tell. After all that, I actually saw some guy getting mauled by one of those nutcases. What kind of virus is this T-virus anyway? Something that turns people into cannibals?I have no clue, but from what I've seen, it's contagious. Scott, one of my friens here, was bitten too, and after a few hours, he started complaining that his skin was itchy, and he was sweating and throwing up all the time. Some time after that, he was saying he felt hungry, but I knew that he wasn't interested in Chinese._

_The guards are all dead now, same for most of the other people that were held here. Where the big shots went? I have no idea. Probably ran off like the stinking cowards they are. In return for our loyal service over the past years, we are now left to die here. Scott is long dead, but before I could deliver the final blow to him, he bit me! I'm now infected, soon to become one of them. I think I'm slowly beginning to understand everything, why they really didn't want us to leave. They didn't care about an epidemic, they just wanted to keep all this a secret to the public. If one of us would have found out about it and spreaded the word, this company would take serious damage. A mutagenic toxin that reanimates the dead doesn't do well on the worldwide stockmarket. I guess I have no more ways to run, I'm as good as dead. It's only a matter of time before I turn into one of them, but as I'm writing this, I can hear them scratching on the other side of the door. With no more bullets left, I can only let them feast on my flesh. Better than dying a slow an miserable death like this I suppose. I'm starting to feel really hungry..._

Kagura crossed her arms. "Man, that's terrible! Who would do such a thing?!"

"Whoever is in charge of this hellhole apparently" Yomi said angrily, knocking her fist on the desk.

"So this T-virus or whatever did all this" Tomo spoke up. "I guess we're one step closer to knowing what happened here."

Yomi placed both hands on her forehead while leaning on the desk with her elbows. "A virus that reanimates dead bodies... It's just like Osaka said. Damn!" She stood up, grabbed the lighter that was next to her as it seemed useful, and turned her head at her two comrads.

"Come on, let's go back. We can't keep the others waiting for too long."

Sakaki, Osaka and Chiyo were already waiting on the balcony, until they heard the door creaking open behind them.

"Ah, welcome back!" Osaka called out. "What did you find?"

"Something very interesting, well, depending on how you wanna look at it." Tomo said.

"Listen up guys, this is very important" Yomi announced. "We found a diary of some guy who was one of the last survivors around here. The zombies are caused by a toxin called the T-virus. Apparently some guy named Spencer ran this place, and he was experimenting with it in some laboratory below this mansion. But an accident happened, and the result, well, all this."

Sakaki looked at her in disbelief. "A virus made to bring the dead to life? Who would make something like that?"

"Some guy named Marcus or something." Kagura answered. "But that's not important right now. Like we thought, it's contagious, so we have to make sure we don't get bitten."

"So, what did you guys find?" Tomo changed the subject.

"Nothing really, just a room with another locked door." Chiyo answered. "But there was a fireplace with some strange carvings above it."

"A fireplace huh?" Yomi pondered. "Oh, we found a lighter too, maybe we can use it to light it and see what happens?"

They walked into the said room, and above the fireplace was an indentation with some carvings that were barely visible. It seemed suspicious enough, so Yomi took a small piece of wood and held it in the flame of her lighter until it caught fire. She placed it with the rest of the fresh firewood and awoke it by gently blowing some air on it. When the furnace was completely lit, the carvings slowly started to glow red.

"Is that a map?" Kagura mused.

She suddenly got an idea. She opened up the folder she found and pressed the side with the paper against the glowing lights. A little bit of smoke escaped from underneath it, and after 10 seconds, she took it off. The red hot lines had now left black, slightly charred lines on the paper, making a perfect print of the map. She proceeded to pry off the paper so she could easily carry it.

"Good job Kagura! I would have never thought of that myself." Tomo said amazed.

"What an unconventional way to get a map of this place." Yomi noted. "Anyway, let's move on. There's more of that hallway we haven't checked out yet."

Without stalling, they went back to the hallway with the broken mirror. There were another two doors, but once again they were locked, with another symbol of an armor on them. Out of frustration, Tomo kicked the steel double door in the middle of the hallway.

"Dammit, what the hell is up with all these locked doors! I can't wait till we find the keys for all these!"

The rest could only agree with her, but there was still one door left at the end. They tried to open it, but it was locked as well. But on closer investigation, this one had the symbol of the sword.

"Who has the key with the sword on it?" Yomi asked the group.

"Ah, me!" Sakaki walked forward and searched for the key. She put it in the keyhole and unlocked they door.

"We're back in the main hall now." Sakaki noted when she opened the door. The girls once again found themselves on the second floor balcony of the main hall, opposite to the door leading to the dining room.

"There's still those two doors we haven't checked yet!" Tomo pointed to the doors in the back, one on each side. They walked up the small set of stairs leading a little bit higher, and investigated the door.

"Bingo, a sword!" Tomo cheered. "At least some of these blasted doors we can open!"

Sakaki didn't waste any time and used the key to unlock it. Upon opening it, they saw that it lead to some terrace outside. The rain was blocked by a canopy, so they wouldn't get wet if they walked through it. The only thing that was worth noticing was a glass table. They marched forward, crossed some corners and went down a small set of stairs, leading to a larger part of the terrace. Another corpse was leaning against one of the pillars supporting the canopy, and a large gun was resting next to it.

Chiyo once again started to feel uneasy, but because of the amount of dead bodies she had already seen, not even mentioning the walking ones, it was beginning to become a routine even for her.

"What's that?" Kagura pointed at the weapon next to the body.

"Tomo-chan, cover me! I'll grab it." Yomi suggested.

Tomo and Yomi moved forward, Tomo aiming her gun at the head in case it would start to move, while Yomi slowly reached for the gun. As soon as she lifted it from the ground, her body fell forward. Getting her footing right, she lifted it up completely.

"Wow, it's heavy!" she exclaimed. "I think this is a grenade launcher or something."

"G...grenades? Do you think we can use it?" said Kagura.

"I don't know. Can anyone of us hold this?"

They all looked puzzled. None of them thought they would be able to use a weapon of such caliber. After the short moment of silence, Yomi sighed deep.

"Fine, against my better judgement, I'll keep hold of this. I hope I won't need to use it."

"Hey, be careful not to blow all of us to smithereens with that!" Tomo commented.

"Yeah yeah, I'll only use it when I really need to. I don't even know the firepower of this thing."

While having this conversation, Yomi was surprised when she suddenly felt cold and dead hands grabbing her from behind. She let out a scream as the reanimated corpse behind her tried to take a chunk out of her neck. With a long and stretched out gasp, the undead monster bared its teeth, ready to sink them into Yomi's warm flesh.

"Yomi!" they all screamed out simultaniously.

Yomi quickly realised that her life was now in serious danger. There was no way she could react fast enough to even stab the monster in the head with her dagger. But only a fraction of a second later, a gunshot was heard, striking the zombie in the forehead with deadly precision, making it fall backwards with a nice bullethole in its head.

"Wh...what? Where did that come from?!" Kagura yelled out in surprise.

They looked behind them, and a man was standing above the stairs, clad in a black uniform and wearing dark sunglasses. His appearance was only barely visible because he was still standing in the shadows.

"Are you okay girl?" he asked with a deep voice.

"Huh? Uh, yeah...thanks..." Yomi replied, still somewhat startled. "Who are you?"

As soon as he walked towards them, entering the light, they immediately recognised him.

"Huh? Aren't you that guy from the hotel?" Tomo called out.

It was the same mysterious man they saw in the lobby the other day. Same blonde hair, same deep voice, but wearing sunglasses and a dark police uniform this time.

"Yes, nice to finally meet eachother again. But what are you girls doing here? It's dangerous out here!"

Kagura frowned. "That's what I wanted to ask you first. What are YOU doing here?"

He calmly responded "I'm a member of S.T.A.R.S. I was sent out here to investigate the weird noises that were coming from the forest, but there are strange creatures out here. I had no choice but to seek refuge here, but it's not much safer in this mansion."

"Then, are you the one who left us those notes?" asked Tomo.

"Yes, that was me. When I saw you girls entering the mansion, I thought the least I could do was leave you some supplies."

"But, you're with S.T.A.R.S right?" Sakaki interrupted, "Why didn't you show yourself earlier?"

The man looked at her with an apologising face. "I'm sorry, but I had my reasons."

"Such as?"

"Once again, sorry, but I'm not allowed to tell you. As a member of the special forces, I have my policies."

"I see..." said Yomi.

The man continued. "But you didn't answer my question. Why are you here?"

Tomo diverted her face, now a sad one, like she was dodging the question. "I just wanted to...take a walk in the forest but..." She was once again faced with the fact that the reason why they were trapped there was because of her.

"I see. Well, you couldn't have expected anything that's happening here. Those strange monsters, they're everywhere."

Tomo realised that what the man said was right, but she couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Do you have any idea what happened here?" Kagura asked him.

"Something about a biological agent called the T-virus. Apparently it leaked, but unfortunately, that's all the information I managed to gather by now." He said with a straight face.

"Hmm, same here"

"What are your names?"

One by one, they introduced themselves.

"Yomi"

"Kagura"

"Tomo"

"Ayumu, but everyone calls me Osaka"

"Sakaki"

Chiyo however, remained silent, unusual for a girl that's normally so polite all the time. Sakaki poked her on the arm, pushing her to introduce herself.

"Ah...ehm...ehh...Chiyo" she stuttered.

"Pleased to meet you all. Listen, I have to go. I have some business to take care of. I trust you have some too" the man said while he turned around, ready to walk off again. "Be careful!" With that, he walked back up the stairs.

"Oh, hey! We didn't catch your name!" Kagura called after him.

He turned around again one last time. "It's Albert. Albert Wesker. But just call me Wesker."

After the encounter with the man that had been helping them up until now, the girls decided to head back to the main hall. They checked the door on the other side, but it appeared to be locked from the other side. Now they really didn't know where to go next. Aggitated, Tomo and Kagura studied their maps closely.

"Any doors we missed guys?" Yomi asked the duo.

Tomo shook her head. "None on the first floor. But there's still that creepy one down the stairs in that dark hallway. You know which one right?"

"Hang on, there's still one door here on the second floor" Kagura pointed on the map, "that's above the dining room. And another one over here, that's in the hallway with the mirrors!"

"So where do we go first? The one down the stairs?" asked Osaka.

"No, I think we should check the one above the dining room first. If it opens, the room behind it is connected with the mirror hallway. Also, there's a stairway there that goes down to the first floor again."

Question marks now floated over Osaka's head, like her brain was overloading with information. "So, where does that go?"

Tomo scanned her map with her index finger, looking for the stairs that were on the same place as on Kagura's map.

"Ah, to some more hallways that eventually lead back into the dark one next to the dining room! And from there, we can go downstairs to check that creepy door!" Tomo cheered, then turned her head to Kagura smirking. "Haha, we're geniuses!"

Tomo and Kagura exchanged a high five. "Oh yeah, you betcha! We're totally on fire!"

Osaka didn't really follow, and neither did the others, since they couldn't see the map as well. But they decided to follow the route Tomo and Kagura had figured out, and hope that none of the doors in the trajectory were locked.

Not wasting any time, they went back to the dining room balcony. It was ominously quiet there, as the storm outside seemed to have decreased in power. There were still some flashes of lightning, but the thunder was delayed way more than before, indicating that it was now further away. The wind wasn't as heavy, and although it was still raining, it was no longer a downpour. Past the door they used to get there the first time, there was another door, but upon turning the doorknob, it didn't budge. Tomo shone her flashlight below the knob, and got a feeling of relief.

"Sakaki-san, do your magic." She spoke while taking a step sideways.

Sakaki used her sword key to unlock the door. For now, they were lucky. Behind the door was a short segment of hallway, with an iron door right in front of them. Yomi attempted to open it and...it worked! She saw an outside balcony this time, similar to the terrace earlier.

"Where does this lead to?" she asked Kagura, since she held the second floor map.

"Ehm, let's see here... to that door in main hall we couldn't open. It's a shortcut, but we don't need it right now."

"Ah, I see, so I guess we could open that door from this side huh?"

Kagura frowned. "Well, I guess so, but do you want to? We don't really need to go that way right now."

Yomi glanced along the balcony. It was dark, wet and...downright scary. "Okay, forget about it then. Besides, who knows what's out there."

They all nodded at this wise decission, and proceeded to walk forwards. Right before them was the staircase, but the railing connected to it lead all the way back into the rectangular room, made a U-turn, and was eventually connected back to the wall, preventing them from simply walking forward. So what they had here was a 'U' shaped walkway leading to the back, only to return from the other side. This made making it to the other side a lot harder than it should have been. A detour.

Yomi sighed and facepalmed at this architectural blunder. "Well this is pointless and stupid!"

Instead of following the walkway, she simply climbed over the railing, saving her a lot of trouble and time. The rest followed her in this, Osaka a bit clumsily, and Chiyo needing a little hand. They were now directly at the top of the stairs, and from below, they could hear the oh so familiar groaning noises.

"Another zombie huh?" said Kagura. "We'll deal with him later. That's the door right there that's supposed to be connected to the mirror hallway. Let's go."

Right in front of them was a single door, and another to the left of them, but the latter was locked, but had a symbol of a helmet instead.

"A helmet key? How many keys do we need here?" Tomo mumbled.

In the keyhole of the other door was a small key. It could be turned, but no matter how hard Kagura tried, she couldn't pull it out. Giving up, she simply unlocked the door, and on the other side was the mirror hallway, as she expected.

"Heh, so far so good huh?" she grinned.

The bloody mess of the half decapitated zombie that Kagura had left was still there, but the blood was now completely dried up, and a strong smell lingered in the air.

"Glad we don't have to go that way again. Now let's go check on that door!" Yomi said.

It was the door with the strange red-skinned corpse in front of it. It was still laying in the exact same pose, on the same spot as when they found it first.

"So, what is it?" Tomo asked somewhat nervous.

"I don't know. I was wondering the same thing before." Yomi answered her unsure. "But it hasn't moved yet, so let's carefully walk past it shall we?"

One by one, they all vigilantly walked past the weird corpse. Tomo, Kagura, Yomi and Osaka had already passed by succesfully. It was now Chiyo and Sakaki's turn. Sakaki let Chiyo go in front of her in case the monster would get up and attack them from behind. But as soon as she almost made it past, she suddenly screamed loud and sharp. Sakaki looked below to see what happened, and the corpse's clawed hand had grabbed her by the leg tightly, but the rest of the body was still motionless. As a natural reaction, Sakaki stomped her foot down on the arm, forcing it to let go of her. She then grabbed Chiyo by the arm and quickly ran past it.

"Chiyo-chan! Are you alright?" Yomi said concerned. Chiyo was now sobbing because of the shock, tears flowing down her cheeks and holding on to Sakaki tightly. They all stared at the body that was now no longer still. Instead, it was twitching for a full 10 seconds. Unlike a zombie that slowly stumbles up, this one literally shot up, standing on its feet in less than a second. The face and exposed body was almost completely red, its bald head resembling a dry rocky desert, cracks all over the cranium. The eyes were not just blank, they were pure white and looked like they were glowing. The claws had completely replaced the fingertips, and looked even bigger, sharper and deadlier than before. It took a threathening hunching pose, and the mouth was wide open.

"What...the..." was the only thing Kagura could bring over her lips.

They all stood in fear at this new creature that seemed to be deadlier, faster and more aggressive than a zombie. Sakaki knew what she had to do. She aimed her shotgun at the unholy mutant and took a steady pose.

"Chiyo-chan, stand back!" she ordered. Chiyo let go of her and took a few steps back.

The monster groaned dangerously and dashed towards the girls, but didn't get very far as an unhealthy dose of small steel orbs launched it to the back of the hallway. The loud blast echoed against the walls, and the hail even knocked some holes in the door on the opposite side. The creature slided across the floor and rolled over a few times, coming to a standstill face down again. Sakaki lowered her gun, her ears still ringing a bit. But before they knew it, the monster pushed itself up with its arms and turned its furious looking face at them. It hissed, and like a sprinter shooting out of the starting blocks, it ran up to them amazingly fast.

"Oh shit!" Tomo yelled out.

Kagura held her gun ready. "Tomo! Now!"

The wildcat and the athlete opened fire at the quickly closing in monster. The bullets merely fazed it a bit, and then ferociously slashed at Tomo. Fortunately, she managed to dodge just in time, and Kagura took this close encounter and delay in the monster's attack as a chance to quickly pull out the dagger from her holder and stab it in the back of the creature's head. Now stumbling, the upgraded zombie took a few small steps before finally falling over, the dagger still stuck in its head.

"Tomo-chan! You okay?" asked Kagura.

"Too close. But I'm fine" she sighed

"What the hell is this thing!" Yomi slightly leaned forward looking at the now dead creature, then turned her head at Osaka.

Osaka looked puzzled, then answered hessitantly. "Ehh...errr...a...a super zombie?" she shrugged.

"Great! Like those rotting fiends weren't bad enough already, but now there's super versions of the bastards!" Yomi said aggitated.

Kagura pulled out the dagger from the head, wiped it off on the carpet a little, then placed it back in the holder. "Whatever it is, it's dead now. So let's do what we came here for."

Not wasting any more time, they checked the door behind them, and in a stroke of luck, it was open.

* * *

Wata: By far the hardest chapter so far. I decided to make this otherwise boring chapter more interesting by revealing some facts already. This chapter was so hard to write, that I don't even know what the hell to put here. Dialogue just keeps getting harder and harder if I don't want it to become repetitive or cheesy. For some reason, I'm not all that happy with this one. But on a brighter note, I've brewed up some ideas for the next ones. But suggestions, if you have any, are always welcome! I'm sure everyone is happy now that Wesker has shown up.

Chiyo : That man still creeps me out!

Osaka : Did you see his hair? I bet it takes a lot of hairgel to get it like that. And why does he wear his sunglasses at night?

Tomo : Reminds me of that song! *starts singing* I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can

Kagura : *continues* watch you weave then breath your story lines.

Wata: What the? Ehm, anyway, see you next time!


	10. Primal Instincts

_Chapter 10, all set!_

_There's a lot of friggin hallways too!_

_I do not own Azumanga or Resi in any way_

_Enjoy and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 10 : Primal Instincts

Another hallway stretched out right in front of the girls. The walls were made of concrete and seemed worn out. The only things that decorated it were several spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling, and a lifesize armor directly at the right from the entrance.

"Looks like the maid missed this place" Tomo joked, looking at the dust collected on the armor and the webs nearly hanging in her face.

The six walked up a set of stone steps, and at the right of them was another armor holding a round shield in front of itself. No ordinairy shield though, it had several spikes sticking out of it. Starting from behind the armor was something that looked like rails, running all the way around the corner. After going around it, they saw another armor in the back, holding up a much larger shield. From the floor right in front of them, a small pedestal stook out, holding something shiny. Tomo reacted to this like a crow and ran up to it.

"Sweet! A key!" she cheered. It was placed in an indentation in which it fitted perfectly. She kneeled over and tried to pry it out. However, when she got it out from there, her eyes fell on some writing engraved on the pedestal.

"May whoever takes this emblem find peace in death"

Yomi glanced at the walls surrounding the pedestal. The hallway was suspiciously wider here, and small rails coming from the back of the walls were barely visible on the floor. She then looked at the rails on the floor. They were interrupted right behind the pedestal, but then continued until they reached the armor in the back.

"Tomo! Don't! It's a trap!"

Just then, the small pedestal lowered itself into the ground, and the walls to the left and right from them closed in on them, now making this part of the hallway just as narrow as the rest of it. The armor in the back moved forward, stopping right before the now lowered pedestal, trapping them. And right after that, they heard a mechanism being triggered around the corner, followed by a sound of something rolling along the rails.

"Oh, no! Damn! Tomo, put it back! Now!" Yomi shouted.

Tomo started panicking, and with shaking hands, frantically tried to push the key back into the indentation. But while trying to push it back in, it shot out of her hands, and fell into the fissure between the pedestal and the floor.

"Fuck!"

From around the corner, the knight armor with the spiked shield was steadily coming towards the trapped girls. The shield was now spinning fast, and four huge crooked blades were sprouted out of the side.

"Oh no! It's coming right for us! We're gonna be turned into minced meat!" Osaka panicked.

Kagura winced at the incoming danger and took a step back. "Tomo, for the love of God, hurry up!"

Sakaki held Chiyo close to her, but she knew if something wasn't done fast, she could no longer protect her.

Tomo squeezed her hand through the fissure, angling for the key she could barely touch. "This can't be happening! Are we gonna die here? Come on you stupid key, just a little more..." she thought to herself, sweat seeping out of her skin and her heart racing out of control.

The girls could now feel the wind being produced by the spinning blades as the deadly fan was now dangerously close, ready to shred the helpless girls into many bloody pieces in a matter of seconds.

"Goddammit Tomo! What are you doing!?" Yomi yelled desperatly.

"Got it!" She pulled out the key from the small space, scraping her hand in the progress, and quickly pushed it back into the indentation. The armor stopped in its tracks and the shield stopped spinning, the spikes nearly poking into Yomi's skin, and moved backwards again as fast as it came. The walls spreaded out, and the armor trapping them moved to the back again. The pedestal raised from the floor, as everything returned to the original state.

Tomo rolled over on her back, panting and sweating, her heart beating heavily. She let out a deep sigh of relief. "Damn...close call..."

"Oh man, I thought we were done for" Kagura sighed deeply, leaning on her knees.

"Th...that was scary!" said Osaka, joining into the same pose as Kagura.

Yomi wiped away the cold sweat from her forehead. "I'll say... Dammit Tomo, I told you to be careful around here! That was such an obvious trap!" she scolded the wildcat.

Tomo was still catching her breath on the floor. "I...I know, I know. But don't worry, I just got an idea!"

Tomo crawled up to the pedestal again, but reached into her sidepack this time. "Hmm, let's see, I know I put it here somewhere. Ah, there you are!" She pulled out the fake key she found in the dog collar.

Kagura looked at her confused. "Heh? What are you doing?"

"See? Same key, but a phoney one! Now I know what I'm supposed to do with it." she answered.

"Ooohh, I see!" Osaka replied as she knocked her fist in her palm. "You're gonna put the fake one in place of the real one to fool the trap!"

"Yep!" Tomo smirked. "You're not that much of a knucklehead after all. Haha!"

"But I thought you were the leader..." murmered Yomi.

"You think it will work?" Chiyo asked.

"We'll see soon enough won't we?" she cried, and she pulled the real key out of the pedestal again. One second later, she placed the fake one in the indentation and...

"Yee-ha! See? I told you! I'm so good!" She made a little victory dance while holding the key up in the air.

"I have to admit, not bad for an idiot like you" Yomi commented.

Tomo didn't feel like reacting to this, she felt way too victorious for that. Instead she looked at the back of the key, and a symbol of an armor was etched into it, just like the one on the fake key.

"Ahah, the armor key! Finally! We're getting somewhere here guys!"

Yomi closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "You know, you're cheering now, but you don't know what's gonna be behind those doors."

Tomo just shrugged. "Who cares! We'll see that once we get there right?"

Sakaki interrupted their little conversation. "Hey ehm, there's something else over there, at the end of the hallway."

Next to the armor with the large shield was an opening, leading to another section of hallway with a door in the back. Not even trying to open it first, Kagura automatically looked below the doorknob.

"A helmet. Looks like we can't open this one yet."

Having no more business there, the girls headed back, walking past the armor that had almost killed them all, and went through the door back into the mirror hallway. They figured it would be a good time to check back to that stairway they skipped previously, so they ignored the dead super zombie and walked through the door they used to get there. Now standing at the top of the stairs, they once again heard the groans coming from the bottom. Tomo and Kagura nodded at eachother and slowly walked down, signalling the others to stay put.

"I sure hope they know what they're doing..." Yomi sighed.

Only a few seconds later, two gunshots were heard, perfectly in synch, followed by two thuds.

"Oh yeah, take that!" Tomo's voice sounded from downstairs.

The rest followed down the stairs, and saw two dead zombies lying almost next to eachother, both with a chunk of the head missing.

"Wow, that was quick!" Yomi said in amazement.

"We're getting the hang of this huh?" Kagura smirked.

Now on the first floor again, another hallway with several windows was in front of them. But at their right, almost underneath the staircase was another door. Sakaki turned the doorknob without hessitating much, and behind was a small room with a bed, a desk, a cupboard filled with several small bottles and a shelf.

"A resting room. Perfect, it feels like my arms are gonna come off." Yomi said, while placing the heavy grenade launcher against the wall.

Tomo and Osaka sat themselves on the bed. It felt very comfy, and most of all, they wished they could use it to sleep on, but there was no time for that. Osaka yawned long and stretched herself, and like everyone had pointed out before, it was an amazingly beautiful yawn.

"Hmmm, this bed feels so nice. Makes me all sleepy..." she said lazily with her eyes closed.

"Haha, Osaka, you still got it!" Tomo laughed.

Kagura took a seat on the chair that was standing near the bed, leaning her left arm on the back side of it and her right hand on her knee.

"Feels good to take a rest every now and then" she said in a relaxed tone.

Chiyo sat on the chair in front of the desk, looking through the several items on it. There were some books, some laying open, and a notepad with a pen next to it. Nothing really important was written on it, as it just seemed to be some sort of administration. Meanwhile, Yomi was looking through the boxes on the shelf, and Sakaki was checking the small bottles in the cupboard. They seemed to be medicines, but most of them were expired. What caught her eye on all these bottles was the same logo she saw in the hotel lobby.

"Umbrella?" she murmered.

"Hmm? What was that?" asked Tomo.

Sakaki turned her head. "All of these medicines are produced by Umbrella!"

Kagura shrugged. "So? Don't you remember what that guy Wesker said? Pretty much all of the medicine around here is made by Umbrella."

"Well, yeah, that's true." She decided not to make a big deal out of it, but continued to look through them. There were some that read Paracetamol that weren't expired yet, so she stored those in her sidepack.

Yomi's search didn't obtain her anything though, so she just sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. Her thoughts drifted off, her eyes fell shut. Her mind started racing.

"What if we never get out of here? What if we can't find an exit and are forced to die here? No... I can't think like that. We will get out of here, all of us. We just have to keep looking."

Yomi didn't say these words out loud in order not to demotivate her comrades, but these thoughts have been haunting her ever since they got there. In secret, she was the most anxious of the whole group. Despite her keeping a straight face all the time, she just felt like crying. She never admitted this, but she actually needed Tomo to keep her optimistic in times like this, although she was a full blown idiot at times. She looked up at Tomo sitting on the bed, still smiling even under these circumstances, and it made her feel a bit jealous.

"Damn you Tomo-chan. Why can't I be like that..."

After taking a break and reloading their weapons, the six headed out in the hallway again. There was no sound. The rain outside was now nothing but a drizzle, so no sounds from outside either. It was quiet, way too quiet. Cautiously walking past the windows, because they remember what happened last time, two more doors were in front of them. One at the end, and one to their right. Opening the one on the right revealed an old study room. Another desk, another cupboard, and more boxes and other garbage stacked up filled the room. A shotgun sat against the cupboard, but was useless as it seemed to be completely crooked, like someone had smashed it against the wall. The drawers on the desk couldn't be opened, and nothing interesting rested upon it. Wanting to move on as fast as possible, they ignored this room and tried the other one. The indentation of the armor was below the doorknob, but since they had this key now, there was no problem. Tomo wasted no time and unlocked the door with the key she claimed fair and square. Behind it was another dark hallway, splitting up in two before them. After checking her map, Tomo noticed that going to the right would lead them back into the dark hallway, and following the one in front of them would bring them to a desolate room. Also, there were two more doors in the hallway on the right, also leading to single rooms. Taking one thing at a time, they followed the hallway in front of them, walking past some windows with faint moonlight shining in. A zombie suddenly smacked against one of the windows loudly, making all the girls jump in unison. Trying to squirm its way in, making it look like it was rubbing itself against the glass, the lungs squeezed out carbondioxide, condensing the window near its gaping mouth, while its hand tapped the glass continuously.

"Wow, that was quite a scare!" Kagura puffed.

"I sure hope that window can hold it" Yomi said while holding her heart that was now beating in overdrive from the adrenaline.

Chiyo was obviously startled out of her wits, as she was once again latching on to Sakaki shivering. Sakaki simply placed her hand on her head to comfort her.

"It's okay Chiyo-chan, it's not getting in."

Leaving the undead creature alone, they went around the corner with the door directly behind it. The room behind the open door had a big fountain right in the middle, surrounded by plants that didn't seem to be in a great state as they had a dull green, yellowish colour. All the way in the back was a dirty semi-transparent wall and a big shield held up against it. On the shield was a grey object, but they couldn't see what it was from there. Looking at all the plants, this seemed like a botany room.

Tomo placed one hand on her hip. "Well, nice change of scenery for once"

"What's that thing in the back?" Kagura wondered, pointing to the strange grey object.

Osaka kneeled down by the dying plants, holding the leaves in her hand. "They haven't been watering these. Poor things are all shriveled up and such... Huh? What's this?" Her eyes caught a long and thick vine on the ground in between the plants. She poked it a few times and it started moving. As dull-witted as she is, she poked a few more times until it suddenly retracted quickly. Her face shocked and she shot up. "Oh my Gawd! It's alive!" she shouted, making everyone else turn their heads at her.

"Wh...what is?" Tomo asked anxiously.

Suddenly, several tentacle-like arms shot up all around the fountain, wiggling around ready to grab a passing prey.

"Oh my! A living plant?!" Kagura said in disbelief, "I thought I already saw everything!"

"Eew, that thing is disgusting!" said Yomi, "but at least it can't reach us from here."

"But what now?" Sakaki spoke up, "I don't think it's gonna let us pass like that."

"We should kill it!" Tomo exclaimed. "Kill it with fire!"

"And how do you want to do that?" Yomi frowned. "Here, take this lighter and go burn it!"

Tomo paused for a moment, then sweatdropped. "Ehm,...no...no thanks."

"How about this?" Chiyo's voice sounded behind them. The little girl had found a big paper bag standing in the corner. She lifted it up with both arms and showed it to the rest.

"Oh, I see, it's pesticide! Good find Chiyo-chan!" Yomi applauded, to which Chiyo smiled.

"But how are we gonna get it to that thing?" Kagura questioned.

Her question was quickly answered when Tomo flipped a switch on a device placed against the wall. There was a vat filled with water attached to it, and water began spraying out of the fountain in the middle of the squirming tentacles.

"Through here!" Tomo answered triumphantly with a wide smile.

They quickly poured in a good dose of the chemical in the water vat. This gave the water a light red colour. Only a few seconds later, the water coming out of the fountain also turned red, and the green tentacles started flailing around wildly. If the thing could talk, it should have been screaming in pain by then. Not long after, they plummeted to the ground, twitched a bit, and then stopped moving altogether.

"Hehe, too easy!" Tomo jubilated. She moved to the back of the room and placed her hands around the object on the shield. It was a grey mask with both eyes missing and a small red bulge on the side of the forehead. "Heh? A mask? What's this..." she interrupted her own thoughts when she suddenly remembered a certain book they found.

"Wait, the four masks, the mask that cannot see evil... I get it now! But first..."

She peered over her shoulder and got an evil smile on her face.

Meanwhile, all the others were huddled up around the dead mutated plant. Sakaki attempted to touch it, but Yomi stopped her.

"Don't touch it Sakaki. We don't know what it is."

"It looks a bit like an octopus" Osaka commented. "It's all slithery and stuff."

"I don't think it's an octopus" Yomi sighed. "It died from the pesticide, so it has to be some kind of plant."

Chiyo was staring at the remains of the strange creature when she noticed someone standing behind her. She turned her head and was now staring directly at a scary, grey, dead face with two holes where the eyes should be right behind her shoulder.

"BLAARGH!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Chiyo turned pale and small tears formed in her eyes, right before she stormed up to Sakaki and grabbed hold of her, now shivering.

Tomo took the mask from her face and started laughing out loud.

"Hahahahahaha! You should have seen your face Chiyo-chan! Hahahahahaha!"

"Th....tha...that's mean Tomo-chan!" she weeped stuttering.

Kagura got a decent chuckle out of this, but Yomi wasn't that amused. "Hey, stop messing around Tomo! What is that?"

"Why, a mask of course!" she smiled. "We have to put this in the crypt below the graveyard."

"We have to do what now?"

Kagura looked up. "Oh that's right, the mask that sees no evil. We have to place this on one of the stone faces in that crypt!"

"You mean from that book?" Yomi asked.

"Yeah, there should be three more of these. I guess we have to find them to..." Kagura paused for a moment.

"Awaken evil..." Osaka finished her sentence.

This gave everyone the creeps, but they had to do what had to be done. They figured it was probably just a metaphor anyway. Since there was nothing else of interest in the botany room, they made their way back into the hallway.

The zombie behind the window was no longer in sight, but the glass was now cracked. In fact, they felt that it could shatter into pieces the next time something would hit it. They fastened their pace, not feeling comfortable at all, and safely made it past the windows. Quickly turning around the corner, they came across a T-shaped crosspoint. To their left, a short section of hallway with a door, and in front of them the door leading to the dark hallway and another one on the right hand side.

"So, which one first?" Kagura asked no one in particular.

"Hmm, let's say... to the left, since its closer by" Yomi responded. Behind the door in the small segment was a very tight room. Nothing there except a gold head of a tiger against the wall, with no eyes to speak of. In front of it was a little sign and it read : "A tiger glowing with blue and yellow light."

They didn't really know what it meant, but it seemed suspicious enough. Unfortunately they didn't have anything on them that was even blue or yellow, so they couldn't do anything in this room.

"Okay then, time for the other door I guess." Tomo stated.

While making their way to the door on the right hand side, a loud shattering noise was heard from back in the hallway. The girls stopped in their tracks and swiftly turned around startled. The cracked window was finally broken, so something made its way inside.

"A zombie?..." Tomo whispered.

"No, listen!" Yomi whispered back.

A soft tapping noise and some heavy breathing could be heard. But the tapping was in a way too fast rythm for a zombie. A bit later, the thing started grunting.

Osaka pulled a straight face, eyebrows frowned. "A dog then?"

"Probably. It's coming, get ready!" Yomi still whispered.

Tomo thought this would be a good moment to take out her camera again, since she hadn't used it in a while and Yomi told her to film as much as possible. When she turned it on, the sounds gradually got louder. Kagura and Sakaki readied their guns to shoot whatever it is that was coming around the corner.

From behind the corner, a monkey appeared, resembling a baboon but without the long snout and the red buttocks. The fur was snow white, but the skin was torn in several places, muscles bulging out. It was like the muscles had grown so much that the skin could no longer handle it. The feet and hands sported sharp and vicious looking claws, same for the teeth, long pointy fangs sticking out like those of a vampire. Tomo zoomed in on the primate's face with her camera, and the eyes were black except for the irisses, they were blood red.

"A monkey?" said Osaka.

Yomi gazed at the new horrid creature, feeling like screaming. "Th...this is bad! Someone shoot that thing!"

Kagura didn't hessitate and fired a round out of her handgun, but the monkey quickly dodged it by jumping sideways.

"What?! It dodged!" Kagura yelled.

Just then, the monsterous ape let out a bloodcurdling shriek and dashed towards the girls. Kagura and Tomo kept firing, but the primate was too fast and nimble, dodging every bullet, forming several bulletholes in the carpet and the walls.

"Crap! It's too fast! Get outta here!" Kagura screamed.

Everyone turned around and ran towards the door at the end of the hallway as fast as they could, ignoring the door they originally wanted to check. Sakaki made it first and quickly turned the key in the keyhole, unlocking it. But before she could open it, the monkey leaped in the air and landed on Kagura's back. She screamed, waving her arms around in panic, trying to push the creature off. Its claws tore through Kagura's clothes and she could feel them digging into her skin like sharp daggers.

"Argh! Help! Get this thing off me!" she cried out. She frantically stumbled around, her arms trying to reach behind her back. The monster hissed as it sunk its claws deeper into her back, small drops of blood trinkling down.

"Kagura-san! Hang on!" Tomo pulled out her dagger and ran up to her. She tried to grab the creature by the neck, but it tried to bite her in the process, making her pull away her hand. She then pulled her dagger back and thrusted it forward, digging the blade into the spine of the ape. It shrieked again and let go of the girl, falling to the floor with a thud and tried to get back up by pushing itself upwards with its arms. Giving it no chance, Tomo fired a round into the monkey's head, splattering chunks of its brain on the carpet.

They lead the still bewildered Kagura out of the hallway and in to the other. Yomi examined her wounds with her flashlight. There were 8 gashes right below her neck, the blood seeping out of them coloured her once white shirt red.

"Awww, damn! Damn that monkey!" Kagura cussed. "Is it bad?"

"Not as bad as it seems, but I'm not taking any risks. I have to clean those wounds immediately." Yomi answered with a serious face as she took out the first aid kit from her pack. "Sit down please."

Tomo huffed angrily. "Man, what was that thing! It was so fast we couldn't even hit it!"

Chiyo had a concerned look. "I just hope Kagura-san is okay. I hope she doesn't get infected!"

"Don't worry Chiyo-chan, she's in Yomi's hands now. She'll be fine" Sakaki assured her.

"Okay Kagura, I know this is an awkward request, but I need you to take off your shirt."

Kagura looked at Yomi with an embarrassed face. "A...are you sure? You can't do it like this?"

Yomi shook her head. "'Fraid not. It's in the way, I can't patch you up like this."

"Well, okay then. If I have to..." she agreed. She slowly took off her shirt and let Yomi clean her wounds with a piece of cotton drenched with desinfecting alcohol. It stung like hell, but she stayed strong, biting her teeth. After the wounds were desinfected, she cut off some patches and neatly covered the sores with them. She then wiped off the remaining blood at the bottom of her back with a piece of cloth, and with that, Kagura was all ready to move on.

"There, that should do it! Now nothing else will be getting in those wounds." Yomi said with a smile.

Kagura stood up and wiggled back into her shirt, now with several holes in the back. "Thanks Yomi-san. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a professional nurse!" she chuckled.

Yomi started laughing. "Haha, no. It's not that hard you know. I just did what everyone would do."

"Yo, Kagura-san!" Tomo called out. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It stings, but it won't slow me down. It will take more than a stupid monkey to do that!" she grinned, while bending her arm and placing her hand on her biceps.

"Kagura-san sure is amazing!" Osaka said dryly. "I don't think I would be so cheerful after something like that!"

"Yeah, she's strong!" Chiyo sparkled. "I wanna be as strong as that when I grow up."

"Good to see you're okay." Sakaki smiled to Kagura.

"Yeah yeah, no worries!" she smirked. "Anyway, let's go check on that door down there."

Standing in front of the stairs and looking down them, the walls were crude and the wall paper seemed to be ripped off. At the bottom was a creepy looking door next to a lit lamp. The door had a fenced window in it, but it could not be looked through since it was so dirty. Slightly scared, Yomi glanced at Tomo.

"After you."

Tomo grumbled and descended the stairs, Yomi following with the heavy cannon in her hands. Kagura and Osaka next, and Sakaki and Chiyo were in the back. Turning the knob was useless, but another symbol was beneath it.

"A sword huh?" Tomo said. "Sakaki-san, pass me the key please!"

Sakaki reached for the key and passed it forward. Tomo unlocked the door and slowly opened it. She peered inside and only saw a few shelves, and a strange smell met her.

"Huh? It's a kitchen!" she called when she had opened the door completely.

The kitchen had a large table in the center, with pieces of rotting food scattered all over it, as well as some dirty pots and pans. Flies swarmed around the spoiled food, and even some maggots crawled over it. The wall was tiled with small white square tiles, but they were so filthy that they didn't even appeared to be white. Some refridgerators stood against the walls, and the stove was just plain dirty. It smell of it all was terrible, but the amount of walking rotten corpses and several more dead bodies made the girls get used to the stench.

"A kitchen in the basement? I thought it was gonna be some torture room or something" Tomo laughed.

"Uck, it smells like those zombies in here." Yomi waved her hand before her nose.

Like it was an impulse, Tomo walked straight to the fridge and opened it. The outside may have been dirty, but the inside was quite clean. There was no rotting material in there, but there were a whole lot of cans ranging from beer to soda.

"Hey, Tomo, what are you doing?" Kagura asked from behind her.

"Heehee. Is anyone else thirsty?"

Tomo took out a cool can of beer and showed it to the group. "See? There's more where that came from. And it's not expired!"

Yomi pulled a questioning face. "Are you going to drink that? You're too young to be drinking alcohol."

Tomo laughed it off. "Meh, who cares about that. Last time Yukari-sensei stopped me, but she's not here now. Or are you going to stop me now Yomi?"

Yomi shrugged. "No, you do whatever you want but..."

"Great! Here!" Tomo tossed Yomi a can as well. "You should have at least tried it once don't you think? We're not kids anymore. Except for Chiyo-chan, but there's soda in here too."

Yomi looked at the can of beer, not sure what she had to do with it. Tomo took out 3 more and tossed them to Kagura, Sakaki and Osaka, then gave a can of orange soda to Chiyo.

"Heh? Me too? But I never drank this stuff before" said Osaka.

"All the more reason to do it!" Tomo cheered.

Kagura and Sakaki were just staring at their cans. None of them had ever drank beer before, so they didn't know if they were going to like the content. But they all were thirsty, since it's been a while since the last drink.

Yomi walked up to Tomo as if she was about to hit her again, but held up the can in front of her. She then put her finger underneath the lid and pulled it up, making a fizzing sound as the foam oozed out of the opening. Her straight face turned into a smirk. "You're right. Why the hell not! We might as well try it now before we die."

"I hope that was a joke" Tomo chuckled, and proceeded to open up her can too.

Soon, Kagura, Sakaki and Osaka all followed in this. But Chiyo suddenly pulled on Tomo's shirt.

"Ehm...Tomo-chan, can I...ehm...I want one too" she stated hessitantly.

"Eh? Really?"

Yomi disciplined her. "No Chiyosuke, you're too young to drink that. You're only 13!"

"Now now Yomi" Tomo waved her hand. "It's not like it's gonna kill her! Besides, in some countries, kids her age are already drinking alcohol!" Tomo reached inside the fridge and pulled out an icecold can for her.

Yomi pushed up her glasses. "Fine then, but don't drink too fast okay? We don't want you getting sick."

Chiyo smiled and nodded. "Sure!"

Yomi stook out her arm towards Tomo, and Tomo clinked her can against hers, smiling widely. The others did the same, and they were now huddled in a circle, arms stretched and clinking the cans.

"What are we toasting to?" Kagura asked.

"To us! And that we may get the hell out of this dump" Yomi exclaimed.

"I'll drink to that!" cheered Tomo.

"Sounds good enough for me!" said Osaka.

"Yes! Let's do this! All of us together!" Chiyo smiled.

Sakaki smiled and repeated what Chiyo just said. "All of us...together...as a team!"

The girls looked at eachother silently for a few seconds, feeling even stronger as a team, and of course, as friends.

"Cheers!" Tomo shouted.

"CHEERS!" they shouted in unison, as they poured the cold, bitter liquid down their throats with big gulps.

* * *

Wata : Another tough chapter, but a lot happened didn't it? Yes, I decided to throw in a new enemy, but one that doesn't appear in Resident Evil 1. The monkey is called 'Eliminator' and only appeared in RE Zero. It's a nasty little critter, always annoying the hell out of me. Also, fanservice scene! XD Now then, let's listen what the girls thought of their first taste of the divine, gold-coloured beverage known as beer.

Tomo : Bitter, but I liked it!

Yomi : Ditto!

Kagura : Never tasted something like this, but I could get used to it.

Osaka : It made me shiver, it was too bitter! But a nice aftertaste.

Chiyo : My head was spinning a bit afterwards. Maybe I AM too young for this.

Sakaki : It was...interesting... What percentage was it?

Wata: And I love it! ^^ Leave a review, or if you have a suggestion, feel free to PM it to me! That's all for now. Look forward to the next one! Cheers!

PS : I do not condone alcohol consumption by minors, and no lolis got drunk while writing this chapter.


	11. Faces Of Death

_Chapter 11_

_Take some time ro read through this behemoth, it's the longest one so far._

_I do not own Azumanga or Resi in any way, but I do own a lot of Resident Evil games!_

_Review! Yes, that means you!  
_

* * *

Chapter 11 : Faces Of Death

Just outside the mansion, beyond the courtyard, everything seemed peaceful and quiet. The only thing breaking the silence was the occasional howling of a dog and the cawing of a crow. The rain had almost completely died out, only some small drops falling from the sky, and the heavy winds had turned into small chilly breezes. A long pathway stretched out uphill, completely soaked and turned into mush. Thick drops of rain seeped off the leaves on the trees, plummeting down into deep puddles. But in between the trees, rustling through the grass, a strange figure stumbled forward. Moving on in a clumsy, almost crawling fashion, a faint sound of a chain being dragged behind it could be heard. A moan of pain and sorrow, able to make even a demon shiver, suddenly cut through the night. Slowly it made its way deeper into the forest, heading for a weak source of light in the distance.

The girls made their way out of the kitchen, up the stairs and back into the dark and gloomy hallway. Another door they ignored earlier was to the right of them. According to Tomo's map, the only thing there was a large single room. After unlocking it with the armor key, Tomo peered inside. A large grand piano sat in the room, as well as a bar, two benches and a round wooden table. Seeing no potential threat on the first sight, Tomo opened the door further and lead the others in.

"Wow, sweet piano" was Kagura's first comment. She opened the lid covering the keys and curiously pressed one.

"And it still works! Think we need to use it for something?"

Yomi let the grenade launcher in her hands hang low. Her arms were clearly getting tired. "Use it? I don't see why we should be playing the piano on a time like this."

Tomo was now playfully pressing random keys on the piano, a clear and clean tone filled up the room every time she did. "You think? With this place you never know."

Meanwhile, Osaka had wandered off to the back of the room. Just around the corner, a heavy looking bookshelf blocked part of the shelf against the wall. With a look on her face like she had just seen a ghost, she took a peek behind the bookcase, into a compartement of the shelf that wasn't completely covered up. She saw a glossy, white folder, with only a small small tag on it, but she couldn't see what it was. Out of curiosity, she tried to squeeze her arm into the small gap, but although her arms were thin, she just couldn't reach it. She figured there was no other way.

"Ehm...Osaka? Where did she go?" Chiyo wondered when she didn't see the space cadet with the group anymore.

Kagura looked around. "Huh? She wandered off again? We should put that girl on a leash I tell you."

The five others looked around the room, until they found Osaka pushing the bookshelf with all her might. But no matter how hard she tried, the shelf didn't budge a single inch.

"Ehm...Osaka, what are you doing?" Kagura asked her.

She turned around surprised, and a few drops of sweat glittered on her forehead. "There's something behind this, but it too heavy and I can't move it" she answered dissapointed.

Tomo suddenly shot forward "Oh oh! Let me try! I'll do it!"

Tomo placed her shoulder against the shelf and applied pressure as hard as she could. Although she used a lot of force, and her legs were shaking, the bookcase hardly moved.

"Ugh, hang on! I got it! Just a little more!" she cried out.

Kagura placed her hand on her forehead at this pitiful sight. "Come on Tomo-chan, you're just wasting energy. Let me do it."

Tomo stopped pushing and panted heavily, leaning against the shelf and sweatdrops running down her face. "F...fine then... you do it!" she barked and stepped sideways.

Kagura took a firm and steady position, placed her right shoulder against the shelf, and rammed all her force against it. The bookcase slowly slided out of the way with each jerk. The wounds on her back started stinging again while doing this, but she didn't flinch anyway. She kept pushing until the folder was fully reachable.

"Haha, how's that. Not bad huh?" she bragged.

Osaka clapped in amazement, but Tomo just crossed her arms and pouted embarrassed.

"Bah, yeah, whatever" she grumbled. She took the white folder from the shelf and tried to read what was on it. But the words on the tag were just like Chinese to her.

"M...Mon...Mondschein...sonate? what is that? French?"

Chiyo quickly spoke up and corrected her. "Actually, it's German. It's a popular composition by Ludwig van Beethoven. It's known better as the Moonlight Sonata."

"Oh I see... so do you think we need to play this on the piano over there?" Tomo answered.

"And what makes you think that any of us can play it?" Yomi began.

Sakaki hessitantly stook up her hand. "Ehm...I..."

Tomo had opened the folder and glanced at the onslaught of notes. "Whoa, that looks really difficult! I don't get this at all! I guess we just have to forget it."

Sakaki raised her hand a little higher and started blushing. "Ahem, I..."

"Maybe Chiyo-chan can play it!" Osaka suggested. "She's so smart and all." But Chiyo just gave her a stupid look.

"No I can't! I never learned how to play piano!"

"Hey guys!" Sakaki suddenly raised her voice.

Yomi turned her head at her. "Hmm, what is it Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki lowered her hand again with a deep red blush on her cheeks. "Ah, well, ehm...I can...I can play it!" she stuttered.

Everyone stood in confusion. "Huh?"

Sakaki sat herself behind the grand piano, with the musical score open in front of her. Hessitating, she pressed the first few keys, but they appeared to be the wrong ones.

"Ah...no, that's not it. Let me see..."

Kagura suddenly spoke from behind her. "Hey, Sakaki-san, just relax okay? Take your time."

The others had sat themselves all over the room. Tomo sat on the table, Yomi and Osaka on the two single-seated benches and Kagura and Chiyo on the stools by the bar. Sakaki took another deep breath, closed her eyes, disposed of all the stress that was in her body, and started over.

As soon as her fingers touched the first few keys, a beautiful melody filled the dusty and littered room. A composition so dark and sorrowful yet so relaxing that the spectating girls could only gawk with their mouths open. All of their worries suddenly escaped them, as they closed their eyes and let the music take over. Even Tomo, who was normally always so energetic, sat motionless, her mind and thoughts drifting off to somewhere outside of this world. Her mouth curved to a smile and in her mind she saw herself floating away from the nightmare she found herself in. Osaka felt like she was dreaming, reflecting upon all the weird fantasies she had in her life. She saw herself flying around with Chiyo's pigtails on her head, but unlike before, she felt really happy. Yomi slouched down into the couch, like she was about to slumber off after a hard day of work with relaxing music coming from the radio. Her arms that once felt heavy, now felt light and relaxed. Kagura gently tapped her fingers along with the rythm on her knee. She stopped caring about the wounds on her back, while she let her imagination take on many abstract forms. Chiyo was about to fall asleep again. Not because the music bored her, but because the melody worked in on her like a lullaby, calming down her body and mind. Everyone was completely at ease, including Sakaki, who now found herself in a state of pure mental rest as her fingers gracefully soared over the keys. Not even looking at the notes anymore, she just let her hands and her feelings do the work. After more than 5 minuted, the composition ended, and the room was once again silent.

It took a full 10 seconds for everyone to open their eyes again. Tomo stood up and slowly started applauding. Soon after, everyone followed, and the applause gradually got louder, even for only 5 people. Sakaki turned at them and smiled. She stood up and took a bow, like she had just performed for a full audience.

"Bravo Sakaki-san" Tomo cheered. "That was amazing!"

"Yeah, that was great! I didn't know you were this good!" Kagura complimented.

"Thank you."

"Where did you learn this?" Yomi asked.

"My mother always used to play it for me when I was little, and she taught it to me."

"I see, well, she did a great job teaching you. That was flawless, congratulations!" Yomi winked.

Osaka and Chiyo were still clapping. Clearly touched, small tears welled up in their eyes. "Th...that was so beautiful. Encore!"

Their cheering was suddenly interrupted by a rumbling sound, which made everyone look up. A section of the wall was moving upwards, small specks of dust falling from it, revealing a secret room behind it. In the back of this room was a large statue of a woman wearing a dress, standing on a pedestal with a golden shield shaped emblem placed in it. Tomo and Kagura curiously looked inside.

"Whoa, what's this? It must have been triggered after Sakaki-san played that song!" Kagura commented. She poked Tomo on the shoulder. "C'mon Tomo-chan, go check it out."

"Huh? Why me?" Tomo blurted.

"Because! That's why!" was her answer.

Tomo growled and walked into the cave like room. The wall to her right was the same semi-transparent wall she saw in the botany room, so she could look over the said room from there. She kneeled down at the statue and cautiously pulled out the emblem from the indentation. But as soon as she did, the rumbling returned. She swiftly looked back, and the wall was sliding down again, coming back to the floor with a loud bang.

"Hey, what the hell!!!" she shouted as she ran towards the lowered wall.

"Tomo! What happened! What did you do?" Yomi's voice sounded from the other side.

"I dunno! This happened when I took this heavy emblem thing. It's another trap!" she yelled back.

"Well then put it back you idiot!"

"Oh, okay!"

She placed the gold emblem back into the hole, and the wall moved back up, like expected.

"Wow, that was a bit scary!" Tomo puffed.

Yomi thought for a second, then came up with an idea. "It's another one of those replace-this-with-a-fake-one trap. Listen up, I saw an emblem like that in the dining room, right above the fireplace. So go and fetch it Tomo-chan!"

"What?! Why do I have to go get it!?" she wailed.

Yomi crossed her arms and grinned. "Because this is now officially your puzzle, so get going!"

Steaming and irritated, Tomo left the room with heavy steps. "Damn that Yomi, who put her in charge anyway?!" she thought out loud. She entered the dining room, but suddenly remembered something. She never picked up the sapphire from the statue she pushed off the balcony a while ago. She checked out the rubble of the statue and picked up the shiny stone.

"A tiger glowing with blue and yellow light huh? So is this the blue light? Makes sense!" she figured out. Her thoughts were cut off when a zombie suddenly fell to the ground right before her with a loud smack.

"Whaa!" she jumped up startled. The zombie started crawling towards her while groaning, its hand reaching for her ankles.

Tomo, however, was a little bit too annoyed already. "Grrrr. Why you rotten little!" She pulled her foot back and kicked the undead straight in the face. The head made an unnatural twist, and a snapping noise was clearly hearable. The neck now broken, the head was merely attached with muscle, causing it to wobble loosely.

"Hmpf, that'll show you!" she huffed.

Tomo placed the sapphire in one of her free sidepacks, then pulled out the bronze shield emblem from above the furnace. It was heavy, so she had to drag it with her, so she was barely able to open doors. After botching around with the doorknobs for a while, she made it back into the piano room where the others were waiting.

"Well that took you long enough!" was the first thing Yomi said.

"Ugh, shut it. I had some business to take care of."

"Business? Well anyway, go replace that one with the real one."

Tomo obediantly pulled out the golden emblem, and the wall moved down again. She then placed the bronze emblem into the indentation, causing the wall to move up again, freeing her from the trap with the item she needed. With that, there was nothing left to do there, so they went back into the dining room, not very sure what to do with the emblem.

"So, what do we do with this?" Tomo asked with the heavy object in her arms.

Yomi pondered and looked around. Above the fireplace was now a hole. "Try putting the real one back in there" she pointed towards the indentation.

"Well, okay, sure, but I don't really see the point of that." Tomo heaved the emblem up and pushed it in the hole. A click indicated that something did happen, but they couldn't tell where it came from. They all looked around puzzled, until Osaka noticed it.

"The grandfather clock! A lid of the clock is open!" she pointed towards the big ticking clock against the wall, and a small door underneath the face had opened. This lid revealed a bunch of connected cogwheels, which when turned, moved around the hands of the clock. On the 12 mark was a helmet, on 3 was a shield, on 6 was an armor and on 9 was a sword.

"Oh I see!" Tomo noted, "we have to move around the hands on a specific time and something will happen right? It's like in videogames!"

"This is not a videogame Tomo-chan" Yomi sighed.

But while Yomi and Tomo were squabbling, Osaka had already turned the wheels. The big hand on the helmet and the small hand on the armor, so the clock now read six o'clock. Suddenly, the bell rang six times, and the grandfather clock moved sideways, revealing a hole in the wall. It was already done before they knew it, and this left the rest in amazement.

"Huh? Already? How did you know that?" Kagura gawked.

Osaka pointed at the painting of the two dueling knights right next to it. "The big sword through the head, and the short sword through the chest."

They stared at the painting for a while, and then at the clock, and repeat.

"Not such a knucklehead after all..." Tomo repeated herself.

"Good job Osaka!" Yomi said while giving her a thumbs up. "Now what's behind it?"

Osaka reached into the hole and pulled out a small brown object. "A key..."

"And what's on it?"

She turned the key around and looked at the base. "A shield"

Kagura crossed her arms. "A shield? I don't think we've seen a door like that yet."

"I guess you can keep it then. You found it fair and square" Yomi said.

Osaka placed the key into her sidepack, and the girls went back into the main hall for the first time in a while. Discussing where to go next, Tomo and Kagura pulled out their maps yet again. They seemed to have checked most of the doors already, but there were some more in the hallway east from the main hall on the second floor. Tomo remembered there were doors there with the armor symbol on them, since she kicked one of them earlier. Not wasting any more time, the six headed up the stairs, and through the door on the east side. This was the hallway with the broken mirror again. To their right, a wooden single door, and past the corner to their left a steel double door. They decided to open the steel door first and see what room was behind it. At least 10 large knight armors stood there, 5 on the left and 5 on the right. But two on each side stuck forward suspiciously, and a pedestal was in the middle of the room. On the pedestal was a small round button, and some writing above it.

"Woe to those who disturb my sleep."

In the back of the room were 4 small pictures of knights, and a small box behind bars placed in the wall.

"This smells like another trap!" Yomi commented before Tomo could act recklessly again.

"So what do you think we have to do?" asked Chiyo.

"Don't know, but let's look around this room for clues."

The girls scattered themselves across the room, looking for possible traps. Osaka was looking at the pictures of the knights in the back and pondered deeply. It didn't take long for Kagura to find the potential danger. Behind the armors that stuck out were small, nearly visible grids. Kagura shone her flashlight over the grid, and beneath it, an open gas pipe was visible, leading below the floor and making a turn.

"This place is a gas chamber!" Kagura exclaimed.

"I see, then it's obvious what we have to do right?" Yomi said, "We have to move those armors back on the grids to block the gas."

Yomi rallied everyone to start pushing. Kagura pushed the armor in the back on the left. As soon as it was placed over the opening, Tomo decided to take another shot after her failing last time. She pressed all her weight against the front left statue until it moved backwards. But when that one was placed right, the armor in the back on the left automatically moved forward again, rendering Kagura's efforts useless.

"Hey, what the hell!" Kagura wailed. "How did that happen?"

"It doesn't work that way" Osaka suddenly spoke up, her back still turned to her friends and staring at the pictures. "You have to push them in a specific order."

"Oh? And what order would that be?" Yomi questioned, not bothering asking how she figured that out.

Osaka turned around and examined the state of the armors. "Ehm...I think...push that one." She pointed at the statue in the back on the right, which is to the left next to where Osaka was standing. Sakaki pushed the armor into place. This caused the armor left in front that Tomo pushed to come forward again.

"Okay, now that one, the one that just moved forward!" Kagura placed her shoulder against it and moved it backwards with all her force. Nothing happened this time.

"And now... the one opposite to it." This time Tomo lended her limited strenght and succesfully placed the armor over the grid. And with that, the armor left in the back slided backwards automatically. All the gas openings were now sealed, once again thanks to Osaka's exceptional puzzle solving skills.

"Wow, good going Osaka! But save us the explanation this time." Yomi winked, to which Osaka smiled sheepishly.

Tomo walked up to the pedestal, ready to push the button since all the danger was sealed up, she hoped. Hessitating a bit, she pressed the switch, causing the bars in front of the box to slide open. Sakaki moved up to it and picked it up, appearing to be some sort of jewelery box.

On the top of the lid were figures of a sun and a moon. On the moon were two dark red rectagonal lines next to eachoter, and on the sun two parts of a broken heart. In between the sun and the moon was a small tag. Sakaki squinted her eyes to read what was on it.

"Sunshine will awaken me."

She then noticed the same symbols on the sides of the box, with small switches next to them. Sakaki didn't take long at all to figure this one out, and pressed the two switches with the piece of broken heart. The symbols on the lid lighted up, and the jewelery box clicked open. Opening it revealed the second grey mask, the one missing the eyes, the nose and the mouth.

"What's up Sakaki-san? What did you find?" Tomo chanted.

She took out the mask from the box and placed the box back into the hole. "Another mask..." she said silently while holding it up.

"Oh, great! Say, Sakaki-san, could you hold on to mine too? My sidepacks are getting a little full..." Tomo suggested.

"Well, I would, but mine are stacked with shotgun shells." She replied calmly.

"Ah, ehm...what about you Osaka? You're not carrying anything!" she pointed towards the spacey girl.

"Huh? Okay." She took the death mask from Tomo, took a good long look at it, and stuffed it in her pack.

They then left the room, following the hallway back to the room with the staircase. Yomi was the first to open the door, and the first one to stand face to face with a familiar threatening figure. Right in front of the splintered railing stood another super zombie. Face just as red as the last one, and claws so sharp they looked like they could cut through flesh like butter. Yomi didn't have time to be scared. The monster was way too close for that, and she knew she had to react quickly before it came for them. She took a firm grip on her grenade launcher and spread her feet out to catch the aftershock.

"Oh shi...! Stand back everyone!"

She pulled the big trigger on the gun, and before the creature could even react, a small grenade, followed by a trail of smoke, shot out of the barrel with a hollow thump sound. The grenade bursted directly on impact, causing the chandelier and the paintings on the wall to shake. A loud and powerful explosion litted the room, and the monster was launched against the wall in the back, smoking and most of the head and arms blown off. This left a nasty blood mark on the wall, and the carpet was completely charred when the smoke cleared. The already broken railing was now fully disintegrated, and the wallpaper was pitch black. For such a powerful weapon, Yomi didn't experience much recoil. The weapon must have been equiped with a shock absorber, and she was thankful for this.

The others' mouths fell wide open. "Th...That was so...AWESOME!" Tomo cheered. "Did you guys feel the power of that thing?"

"I'll say, the whole room must have been shaking!" Kagura exclaimed.

"That crimson head went out with a bang huh?" Osaka said dryly. The others turned their heads at her.

"Crimson head? You mean that monster?" Chiyo asked confused.

"Well, yeah, because its head is all crimson coloured and such" was her response.

"Hmmm, Crimson Head, that has a nice ring to it." Tomo mused. "Better than super zombie, that's for sure."

"Can we leave the monster naming game for another time? I think I hear another one!" Yomi said in a lowered voice.

Sakaki stepped forward, shotgun in hand. "Let me take care of this one, please."

Yomi nodded and let her pass. She ran up the hallway and could hear the groaning and fast shuffeling sound coming from all the way in the back. From around the corner, another Crimson Head was storming her way. Fearlessly, she walked forward and held her shotgun in one hand only. When it got closer to her, she stretched her arm and placed her finger on the trigger. As soon as the Crimson Head was nearly biting the barrel of her shotgun, she squeezed it. The barrage of hail from this close by blew its head clean off, catapulting the remaining body several meters back, leaving a trail of thick blood on the carpet. Sakaki however, barely flinched, obviously starting to master the deadly cannon. She took a deep breath while wiping away the small splatters of blood on her face. The others now followed her around the corner, witnessing the carnal mess that she had left behind.

"Good job Sakaki-san. But where are these things coming from?" Yomi wondered.

Kagura then noticed that the two zombies that were laying downstairs before were gone.

"I think I know. Those Crimson Heads used to be regular zombies, but they must have transformed or something. The zombies that were down there are gone!"

"But if that's true, then..." Tomo walked up to the now decapitated creature. "It's missing an arm! I remember shooting it off. Kagura is right!"

"So you mean, even if we kill a zombie, it just gets back up again?" Yomi spoke up.

"I told you to shoot them through the head! That's the only way to kill a zombie for good!" Osaka lectured.

"Well it's not like you expected something like this to happen!"

They remembered that there were more zombies they didn't finish off with a headshot, but it was probably already too late for them. They swore to remember to finish the next ones off for good. But for now, they could only continue to explore. Tomo walked up to the door in the middle of the hallway, right opposite to a window. She took out her armor key and put it in the keyhole. At the same time, she was grinning at her friends.

"Oh well, it's no big problem. Did you see how easy we disposed of them? As long as Yomi has her grenade launcher and Sakaki-san has her shotgun, we..."

Tomo turned the key in the keyhole, but before she could even react properly, two zombies stormed through the door, pushing her back against the window behind her. She let out a cry for help as she felt the glass behind her starting to crack.

"Oh God, Tomo-chan!" Yomi yelled.

Kagura managed to react quickly enough to fire a bullet through one of the zombie's head, but unfortunately, she was already too late.

The rotten frame of the window collapsed under the force of Tomo being pushed against it, and the window shattered. Tomo could no longer keep her ballance, and tumbled through the broken window, shards of glass following her on her way down. She screamed as she plummeted down backwards towards the ground from the second floor. The zombie was still standing inside, giving Kagura the opportunity to get up close and bust a cap through its skull. Yomi leaned out of the window, looking down. "Tomo-chan!!!"

Tomo found herself laying down in between the grass, right beneath a tree. The branches of the tree had broken her fall a bit, but left a painful bleeding gash on her arm. Moaning, she pushed herself up, but hissed at the wound on her right upper arm. Still a little bit fuzzy from the fall, she could hear Yomi yelling from the second floor above her. Shaking her head, she felt around looking for the gun she had dropped.

"Tomo-chan! Are you there? Can you hear me?!" Yomi's voice sounded from above.

Tomo regained her composure, picked up the gun and stood up. "Y...yeah! I'm fine!" she yelled back.

"Oh thank God, I thought you were... Listen, can you make it back inside somehow?"

She looked around, but only saw windows that she could barely reach, and would be too dangerous to shatter and climb in. "Not from here. But don't worry, I'll find another way in!"

"Okay, we'll continue looking around here. But be careful okay? And watch out for those dogs!"

"And the monkeys!" Osaka added.

"Sure!"

Tomo stook as close to the outer walls of the mansion as possible, and carefully moved forward. "Dammit, why did this have to happen to me?" she thought to herself. Small drops of blood seeped down her arm, and the pain was annoying, but bearable. She snook across the bushes until she saw a few fighting zombie dogs in the distance. The last thing she wanted to do was grab their attention, so she moved on as silently as she could. Her heart started beating faster, and she continuously varried her gaze to the dogs and the ground in front of her. A sudden bark made her heart skip a beat and she dove down into a bush. She slowly peered over it, but luckily, it was a false alarm. The mutts were still messing around, minding their own business. Sighing relieved, she continued to move on, until she reached the north-east corner of the mansion. She peered around it to see if the coast was clear. No monsters were in sight, so she walked past it, still sticking to the walls. She finally found a back door, but she had to climb over a wooden fence first. It was an old, wooden door, but didn't seem to lead back directly into the mansion. Better than nothing, she figured, so she opened it. It lead into a small shed, with a heavy looking steel door on one side, and a large double door on the other. She tried to open the steel door, as it seemed to lead back to the mansion. But it was locked, she couldn't open it no matter how hard she tried. Flustered, she leaned one arm against the door and hit it with her fist.

"Damn damn damn! No good. I'm not going this way."

Trying the double door seemed pointless, since it would only lead her further from the mansion. She searched the shelves against the wall, but other than some useless junk, there was nothing on them. She descended the stone steps and went back through the wooden door outside. She took a deep breath and filled her lungs with fresh, cool air again. She looked up to the sky, and she noticed that most of the clouds were gone. The thunderstorm had almost completely passed, but the moonlight was still cut off occasionally. Before her was a wet and muddy pathway going downhill. Streams of rainwater flowed down over the rocks like small waterfalls. Wooden planks were stuck in the mud, serving as stairs, but the scenery was less than inviting. More dead trees stretched out before her as far as she could see, but that wasn't very far since it was so dark. Hessitantly, she took the first steps forward, cautiously descending the wooden steps, careful not to slip. She almost lost her footing a few times, but then came to a more even path. The hill seemed to go down more steep here, and the water flowing off of it didn't make things easier. Further on, the pathway took a turn near a large root of a tree, and then went down even more steep with dangerously unstable looking steps.

"Careful now Tomo. Don't wanna break my neck out here!" she murmured.

Step by step, she descended the slippery stairs, turned to the left, and moved down the second set. A large, ominous looking metal fence-like door was now in her sight. She slowly approached it and pulled the handle. It squeeked loudly as she pushed it open, revealing another graveyard, but in a better state than the previous one. Two large tombstones stuck out in the back, and another gate was before her. To her left, a high steel fence held up by pillars, so no going that way. Not feeling very comfortable in a graveyard after what happened last time, especially alone, she proceeded towards the gate in front of her. Behind it, the forest became more dense, darker and scarier than ever before. The path also went back uphill from there, and the pointy wooden fences bounded her to the trajectory. Tomo was really getting second thoughts about moving on, pauzing for about a minute, her body held back by fear. Besides from the wind and drops falling off the trees, there was only silence.

"Come on. No turning back now! Get it together!" she told herself, and couragiously marched on.

Going up the hill was no easy task. The dirtroad had completely turned to mush, making her prone to slip any second and fall face down in the mud. Slowly and cautiously, she ascended, while holding on to the trees close by. After a turn, she came across a large creepy statue. Because it was too dark to see, she flipped on her flashlight and looked what it was. It was a statue of an angel, but there were several bloodstains on it, and a big part of it seemed to have been broken off. The rubble on the ground next to it was broken into many pieces, as if it was smashed with a great force.

She continued to walk up the hill at a snail's pace. The water of the many puddles she accidentally stepped in had completely soaked into her shoes, and the splatters of mud almost reached to her knees. After about 5 minutes, she finally saw a small source of light. At the end of the path was a small wooden cabin. A nightlight shone above the door, and looking in through the windows revealed that there was light in there as well. Walking up the steps, Tomo pulled open the door. Inside was like it hadn't been cleaned for centuries. Thick layers of dust were collected on the many gardening tools, and many spiderwebs hung against the walls and ceiling. In the entrance hallway, a big bag of dried up pumkins rested against the wall. But another thing she noticed was the flickering light coming from the doorway, and the smell of burning wood. She slowly walked into the room, and saw a fireplace, fully lit and fresh firewood next to it.

"Ehm...hello!? Anyone here?" she called, but there was no answer. "That's strange, this fire seems like it was lit not too long ago. Maybe there's a survivor that hides here" she thought out loud.

Tomo sat down on the carpet in front of the furnace. The rays of warmth felt nice and helped her to relax. She looked around the room, and spiderwebs were literally everywhere. Several ragged up clothes hung against the wall to her left, and she swore she could see a spider crawling over it. Tomo then stared at the flames for a few minutes, not feeling like getting up. She got lost in thoughts for a while.

"I'm so tired. I wish I was back at the hotel, man, I would sleep for a whole day." She yawned, and decided it would be time to move on again. She stood up a glanced outside the window for a second. A rush of fear suddenly took over her body. For a fraction of a second, she thought she saw a dark silhouette move between the trees. She continues to look, but she no longer saw anything.

"Wh..what the...A zombie? Or maybe a survivor!" she guessed.

Whatever it was, she no longer felt comfortable there, so she wanted to wrap up the search as quick as possible. She ran up the wooden stairs and walked into a room with a crooked bed, a table with a lit light and the smashed open door on the floor in front of her. On the table she noticed a small piece of paper. It was a family photo of a small girl, a woman and presumably a man. It was hard to tell because the top and bottom was ripped off. When turning it around, she saw some sloppy handwriting. The spelling was incredibly bad, and almost unreadable, but she managed to make out the following.

_19_

_dadddy atached first_

_momm atached scond_

_iNside reD and sLimy_

_whiTe and haRd_

_not true moM wheRe_

_dunno dad_

_found mum again_

_whne atachd momMy_

_she move no more_

_she screaming_

_why?_

_Jst wnt to b with her_

_4_

_mom_

_where?_

_I mis yuo_

Tomo was really starting to get freaked out now. This was either written by an illiterate person, or something completely else. Also, it didn't make any sense to her, but she wasn't going to bust her head about it. Instead, she continued through another doorway into a section of hallway. To her right, the wooden floor ended, and there was a small dry dirtroad down below. She jumped off the flooring, landing on the dirt with a thud. In the back was a wooden plate with an object resting upon it. She kneeled down and picked it up. It was an iron crank with a wooden handle. The tip of it was shaped like a square. Because it didn't fit in her sidepack but it did seem useful, she stuck it behind her belt. Tomo climbed up the wooden path again and decided to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. But she didn't even make it back into the room with the bed, when she heard the front door creaking open and slamming shut again. The rattling sound of a chain was also audible again.

"Huh? W...who's here?" she thought to herself. To the right of her was a big window, covered with webs, with a view to the door. Scared stiff, she slowly shuffeled up to it and looked through it.

Fear turned into horror when she saw a figure with a grossly misshaped back stumbling down the entrance hallway. It was wearing a light grey gown, and the pale feet were bare, dragging a chain behind it stuck to the creature's leg. Only for about a second, then it was out of sight.

The wildcat gasped in fear and let herself fall to the floor, leaning against the wall with her back. Eyes wide open, she frantically moved her hands over her body, feeling for her heart that was now beating in overdrive. Her breathing turned into heavy heaving, and cold sweat seeped out of her pores. Now in a state of pure terror, she was too scared to even move. Tomo curled herself up in a ball against the wall, buried her face into her knees and started crying.

Her memories went back to when she was just a little girl. Back then she used to scared of the dark, always believing that there was a monster hiding in her room. Because of this, she didn't dare to sleep with the lights off. Her mother always told her that she didn't need to be scared, that there was no such thing as monsters. But she was wrong, dead wrong. Now, Tomo was alone, stuck in a scary wooden cabin, with a creature that seemed to have spawned from her worst nightmares. She broke down and sobbed silently.

"Y...Yomi. Kagura. Everyone! Where are you? I...I can't...I can't take this anymore. I'm scared!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks and wetted her legs. "I...I don't wanna die..."

She could hear the chain being dragged across the other room, but she was too scared to look through the doorway. She kept her head buried in her legs and her eyes closed. She sat like this for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity, until everything went silent again.

Eventually, she managed to pull herself together. She dried her tears and slowly stood up. There was nothing in the other room, not even a shadow was visible. She knew she had to go through it to make it out of there, so she tiptoed to the opening. She pulled out her camera again and turned it on, aiming it to the room with the flickering fire. She leaned against the table to the left, and looked around the room. Nothing, she saw nor heard nothing. Anxiously, she gathered the courage to stick out her head from the opening and check the other side.

After a loud clank, she was forced to drop her camera, and a sudden pain shot up. She let out a short yelp and stumbled backwards, her hand holding the back of her head where the pain came from. She held her hand in front of her eyes and there was a red liquid on her fingers. Her face dazed, she couldn't even register what happened before her vision started to vibrate and she felt a small warm stream running down her neck.

"Son of a..." was the last thing Tomo muttered before her body collapsed to the floor like a rag doll. Her eyes remained open for a few seconds as she slowly slipped away into unconsciousness and everything in front of her eyes turned black. The last thing she could hear before she passed out was a moan.

* * *

Wata : Long chapter is loooooong! Almost 7000 words! And it went surprisingly smooth! Probably because I had most of it planned out beforehand. But I want to take a few notes here.

The Moonlight Sonata : I wrote this part based on the feelings I get when I hear this song. If you've never heard of it before, shame on you and go look for it! If you know it, play it while reading that part, seriously. I had it playing constantly when writing it.

Knight armor puzzle : For this one, I had to do a little research. A little much research to be honest. I figured it out by watching some videos of it, and the sequence I've written should be right. There's supposed to be a clue in the pictures of the knights, but I don't get it. I can usually solve this puzzle pretty quickly anyway. Damn, Osaka beat me there!

Key confusion : For the last few chapters, it seems I got the shield key and the helmet key mixed up. But it's been corrected in previous chapters, and to make things clear, the door in the room with the spiky shield trap has a helmet, not a shield. Get it? No?

Tomo : I'm so going to die aren't I?

Wata : I'm not allowed to tell. Look forward to the next chapter!


	12. Snakebite

_Chapter 12, divided by 2 equals 6_!

_Took a little longer, because the writer's block is slowly creeping up on me._

_The writing in this one is rather bleh._

_I do not own AD or RE_

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 12 : Snakebite

"Okay, we'll continue looking around here. But be careful okay? And watch out for those dogs!" Yomi shouted out the window from the second floor.

"And the monkeys!" Osaka suddenly yelled after.

Yomi heard a confirmation coming from below, before she she saw Tomo running off to the north side of the mansion.

Yomi sighed deep and formed a concerned look. "I hope she'll be okay..."

"Man, what a friggin mess! It's so dangerous out there!" Kagura frowned. Out of frustration, she kicked one of the zombies lying in front of her. "I just hope she finds a way back in quickly."

"Sh...she'll be fine! She can take care of herself!" Chiyo spoke up.

Sakaki had the same look on her face as Yomi, still a bit shook up at what had just happened. "Well, let's not waste any time. If it happens she doesn't come back, we have to go look for her as fast as possible. So let's keep looking for a way out!"

"Sakaki's right" said Yomi. "Let's start with this door here."

The door Tomo opened right before she fell out of the window had fallen ajar, and the key still rested in the keyhole. Yomi pulled it out and entered the room. It was a small, rectangular room with a deer trophy hanging from the wall in front of them, and a door on the left and right side. Deciding to split up in two, now uneven groups, Yomi and Kagura entered the room on their left, and Sakaki, Osaka and Chiyo checked the one on the right.

Team Sakaki found a bedroom with, of course, a bed, a night table with a lit light on it, and a small cupboard. On the night table, Sakaki found another first-aid kit. When opening it, there were several strings and needles, strong pain killers, probably morphine, and some desinfecting alcohol inside it. Sakaki decided to take it with her, since it should be useful if someone got hurt. She thought of Tomo in particular. Chiyo had noticed that the sheets of the bed were covered in dried blood, probably from a victim that was treated here. Osaka searched the drawers of the cupboard, and to her surprise, another pistol was inside one of them, along with some magazines to go with it. It was a slightly smaller model than Tomo and Kagura's, but had a more smooth design. The magazines seemed to be shaped different though, so she figured she could only use the ones that were there.

"Hey guys, look what I found! Another gun!" she called out while holding it in front of her.

Sakaki turned around while placing the first-aid kit in her last free sidepack. She looked at the gun and gave her a questionable look.

"Are...are you going to keep that?" she asked.

Osaka looked a bit confused. "Ehm...I've never shot a gun before, and it's a bit scary, but I guess I could."

"Be careful with that Osaka-san. Don't hurt yourself, or us..." Chiyo commented.

Osaka nodded, and placed both hands on the gun and aimed it to the wall, getting a feel for it.

"Ehm, hey... If you want to fire that, you should turn the safety off" Sakaki said, although she wasn't sure if that was such a good idea.

"Huh? Safety? Where?"

Sakaki placed her finger on the small lever on the side and pulled it up. "Like that, see? It won't shoot otherwise."

Osaka smiled in her usual manner. "Oh!"

Meanwhile, Yomi and Kagura found a room filled with many bottles containing different kinds of liquids. In the back was a large fish tank filled with water and on the walls were several frames with the glass cover broken, many shards covering the carpet. An oxigen pump in the aquarium filled the room with a continues bubbling sound. A desk standing in the back corner was littered with documents, mostly researcher notes. Yomi looked through the paperwork and found something interesting.

"B.O.W." she mumbled.

Kagura, who didn't know what she was talking about, tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "B.O.W.? What's that?"

"Bio-Organic Weapons" she answered. "Products acquired when injecting the T-virus into living organisms. It's all here in this file. There's even a list of creatures they have experimented on. See for yourself!" She handed the document to Kagura, and she glanced over the list. It was staggering to say the least.

"MA-39 Cerberus, a Doberman injected with the T-virus. MA-121 Hunter Alpha, reptilian DNA combined with a human embryo and bonded with the virus. Eliminator, a primate injected with the virus. Plague Crawler, manipulating genes of several bugs into one organism and injecting the virus. Lurker, an amphibian. FI-03 Neptune, a great white shark. What the hell? What does this all mean?!" Kagura exclaimed while scratching her head.

"Isn't it obvious? All these monsters are no accident. They were made deliberatly as weapons!" Yomi answered.

Kagura looked over the list. There were actually more than she mentioned, but there was no mention of zombies anywhere.

"Except for the zombies then? They're nowhere on the list, so they must have been accidents."

Yomi nodded, then took the file from Kagura's hands. "The monkey that attacked us in the hallway was probably one of those Elminators." She suddenly remembered something that disturbed her. "Kagura! How do you feel?"

"Huh? Ehm, I feel fine, I guess... Why?" she answered confused.

Yomi closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't want to alarm you, but the Eliminator that wounded you was created by the T-virus, so there's a chance that..."

"You mean I could be infected!?" she cried out in panic.

"I don't know. I cleaned your wounds, and we can't tell if the virus is transfered by claws. I'm sorry to worry you, but..."

"No...no it's okay" Kagura interrupted. "I feel fine!"

Yomi nodded. "Okay. I'm taking this file with me. Let's go meet up with the others."

The girls regrouped in the middle room. Yomi explained the file she found, and it shocked them to say the least. The good news was that Sakaki found another first-aid kit and that Osaka found another handgun. Not wasting any more time, they made their way back to the hallway with the broken mirror to check the door they skipped previously.

"This is the last door huh? Any idea where it leads to?" Yomi asked no one in particular.

"Some other hallway" Kagura said while investigating her map.

Yomi unlocked the wooden door with the armor key and slowly opened it. Another hallway was in front of them, splitting up near the corner, only to come back together again, with a pillar standing in the middle. After listening for any noises, it seemed to be clear. Not far after the corner was another door, leading to another hallway also splitting up to the left, and a small, crude set of steps leading to a dusty, spiderweb infested wooden door. While the last hallway was silent, more moaning could be heard here.

"It's around the corner" Sakaki whispered. "Who's going to get it?"

"I'll do it." Osaka whispered back. "This way I can test out my new toy" she grinned.

Osaka leaned next to the corner, holding her pistol in front of her. "Okay, my turn. Get it together, get it together!"

She took a deep breath and turned around the corner, aiming her hangun at the height of her shoulders, and opened fire. The zombie didn't know what hit him, but it slowly started to stumble forward, arms stretched in front of it. Shot after shot, the zombie absorbed the bullets. Osaka felt her arms starting to shake because of the recoils, but she continued to shoot, until it fell on its knees and pounded down on the carpet. For the final blow, Osaka popped a bullet in the head, spreading the brain matter on the floor. Osaka wiped the sweat off her forehead, but accidentally scraped one of the wounds, causing it to slightly bleed again.

"Not bad Osaka, not bad." Yomi complimented.

"I can feel my energy flowing out of my arms!" she sighed. "But shooting this thing isn't as bad as I thought..."

In the hallway where the zombie came from was another door. This time they all went in together, since the dusty attic door didn't predict much good news. The room was dark, very dark, but a table was faintly visible. Sakaki held the door open to let in as much light as possible, which wasn't much to begin with. After feeling and trying hard to look around in the room, Yomi found a candlestick. She lighted it with the lighter she found earlier, so everyone could look around. There was not much of interest, but a cupboard did seem to hold something. Sakaki was the first to pick it up.

"It's a can. I think there's grenades in here. This is for you Yomi-san."

Yomi took the cannister from her and read the label. "40 mm grenades, H2SO4? Huh?"

"Sulfuric Acid! It's a strong acid that can burn through pretty much everything!" Chiyo said.

"Ah, I see, a can of fizz... This could be useful."

"B...but be careful with that! It's highly corrosive and..." Chiyo tried to say.

Yomi smiled and stuffed the acid grenades in her sidepack."Don't worry Chiyo-chan, I'll be extra careful."

Their business here was done, so they left the room and once again stood before the attic door.

"You know, I'm having another of those really bad feelings about this" Kagura spoke softly.

"I know, it's like we really shouldn't be going in there" Yomi added. "But let's do it anyway..."

Brushing away the dust covering the keyhole, Kagura noticed a small shield symbol beneath the door. "This one is for you Osaka-san."

Osaka searched for the key, pulled it out, and heard a click when she turned it. With a twitching hand, she pushed open the door.

Like they expected, it was a dusty attic room. Large pillars stood in the middle, supporting the roof. Several shelves stoog against the wall, carrying bottles, but they were so dusty it was impossible to see what was in it. Furthermore, a net hung from the ceiling, holding some objects, and in between the webs were large wooden boxes standing in the back.

"Heh. Nothing here! It seems we're lucky" Kagura smirked.

"Okay, let's take what we need and get out of here" Yomi ordered.

The five girls spreaded themselves over the large room. Sakaki found some more shotgun shells on top of a shelve, and Kagura saw another mask lying on one of the boxes. She picked it up and turned to her friends.

"Hey guys! Look what I found! Just one more now and..." Her speech was cut short when a bit of dust fell on her shoulder. She quickly looked up, and through a hole in the wooden roof, she saw a gigantic snakehead looking down on her. Kagura was scared stiff as the reptile openened its giant mouth, baring its sharp fangs. The only thing she could do now was scream.

"Holy shit! Kagura, look out!" Yomi yelled and ran up to the girl in distress.

The snake hissed and lurched itself down, ready to swallow Kagura whole. But Yomi was just in time to push Kagura out of the way, barely managing to dodge the mouth herself. As soon as it hit the floor, it slithered across the room, on the hunt for one of the many preys in its vision. It was at least 10 meters long and about as wide as two of the girls standing next to eachother.

"Oh my Gawd! It's huge!" Osaka yelled out.

The snake raised its head and looked around, the tongue wiggling in and out. It stopped its stare to Sakaki, who was wathing the behemoth with wide, scared eyes. It hissed once again and exposed its fangs, saliva dripping from the maw.

It lunged forward to the tall girl, and she was just in time to jump out of the way as it bashed against the wall, making the whole room shake. She got up to her feet again and started shooting like mad. The monster wasn't impressed, and slided towards her again.

"Sakaki-san!" Chiyo cried out. Osaka and Kagura opened fire as well, but Yomi couldn't, because Sakaki was too close to the monster to not get blown away by the explosion. The bullets from Kagura and Osaka's handguns didn't even seem to hurt it!

Sakaki was cornered. She stared directly into the snake's throath. Venomous fluid and enzymes sprayed out of the fangs, landing right in front of her feet. To make matters even worse, her shotgun had ran out of shells, and she didn't have time to reload at all.

Chiyo couldn't stand to watch Sakaki about to be swallowed, and ran up to her in a state of panic. "Sakaki-san!!!"

"Chiyo-chan! Don't!" Yomi and Kagura yelled in vain.

The giant snake now turned her head to the little girl, and was about to dash towards her. But Sakaki saw this chance to jump on its back and climb up to the head. The snake started shaking its head and body around wildly, knocking down Chiyo who was standing a bit too close. Sakaki held on like she was riding a mechanical bull, pulled out her dagger and stabbed the creature in the head repeatedly. As a last resort to get her off, it smacked the back of its head against the pilar in the middle of the room, crushing Sakaki's body between the hard scaled skin and the wood. Sakaki cried out in pain and coughed up a small amount of blood before falling down to the floor unconscious. Chiyo watched her laying on the floor motionless, and in a last attempt to protect her, she stood as tall as she could in front of her and spreaded her arms. The snake didn't care who to eat first, so it showed its teeth again and spreaded it mouth wide open.

"Chiyo-chan! No!!!"

As Chiyo's life flashed before her eyes and the snake lurched right at her, a loud blast echoed through the room. Small splatters of greenish blood covered the floor around it, and it got knocked back, hissing in agony. Yomi finally saw her chance.

"Chiyo-chan, get down! Now!" she yelled.

Chiyo let herself fall down on the floor, as a hollow thump was heard, followed closely by a powerful explosion, shaking the attic on its foundations, and making dust and several wooden planks to come crashing down. The reptile let out several shrieks as a large part of its scales were blown off, exposing the soft tissue inside. The green blood oozed out of the charred hole. Severely damaged, it finally gave up and slowly crawled back up the hole where it came from.

Yomi, Osaka and Kagura ran up to the two girls. Chiyo seemed to be fine, she was just coughing from the dust that had fallen down. Sakaki, however, still wasn't moving. A small stream of blood seeped from her mouth, but fortunately, she was still breathing.

"She's still alive" Yomi sighed in relief. She turned her head to the entrance of the attic. "That's two we owe you."

"Don't mention it Yomi" a familiar deep voice said.

"Ah, Wesker!" Kagura exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Wesker held a still smoking Colt Anaconda Magnum and marched up to the girls. "I heard a lot of noise coming from here. Looks like I was just in time." He kneeled down next to Sakaki. "Is she alright?"

"She was crushed against the pilar, but she's still breathing" Yomi explained.

"Oh, look, she's waking up now" Osaka noted.

Sakaki moaned softly and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she felt was a sharp pain coming from her chest, but she ignored it and carefully sat up straight.

"Sakaki-san! Thank God! Are you okay?" Chiyo asked almost crying.

"Y...yeah... Wh...what happened?" she stuttered.

"You were sandwiched between that snake and the pilar" Kagura explained. "Does it hurt?"

"M...my chest hurts. I think one of my ribs is broken."

"If that's the case, just lay down." Wesker spoke up.

"O...oi, what are you going to do?" Kagura interrupted.

"Don't worry, I studied medicine and anatomy back in school, so I know a lot more about this than you think. If her ribs are broken, there's a risk that her lung may have been punctured." he said with a friendly and calm tone.

Sakaki layed down flat on her back and allowed him to examine her ribs.

"Just tell me when it hurts okay?" He pressed the ribs right below her breasts, and she twitched and hissed in pain. He continued to apply pressure, a little less this time, until he came up with a diagnosis.

"You're lucky, it's not broken. Probably just slightly fractured. Just bandage it and take some painkillers and you'll be fine."

Sakaki nodded, and Yomi immediately took the bandages from her first-aid kit. "Come on Sakaki-san, let's get you patched up."

While Yomi was wrapping the bandage around her chest, the others were having a discussion.

"So, did you find out something new?" Kagura asked Wesker.

"No, nothing in particular. I did run into some other monsters though. But weren't there six of you? Tomo, right? Where is she?"

Kagura looked down to the floor in a defeated way. "Yeah, she got seperated when she fell out of a window. We don't know where she is now..."

Wesker brought his gloved fingers to his sunglasses and pushed them up. "I see. That's unfortunate. It's dangerous outside. I hope she will be okay."

"Yeah..." Kagura said softly. "Anyway, we found this file that says that all these monsters were created as weapons! I think that big snake was on the list too."

"Can I see this file?"

"Yomi still has it" she replied while pointing to her.

"You know Sakaki" Yomi began. "Chiyo-chan is a lot braver than we thought."

Sakaki turned her head at her confused.

"When you were unconscious, she tried to protect you. Even though she knew she didn't stand a chance, she still faced that snake without fear. I think..." she paused for a second. "I think she sees you as her guardian angel, and that she wanted to return the favor."

Sakaki looked forward and smiled. "So foolish"

After Yomi was done, Wesker walked up to her. "Miss Yomi, can I see the file you found please?"

"Oh, you mean the B.O.W. file? Sure, hang on." Yomi reached into her pocket, pulled out the now crumpled piece of paper and handed it to him.

From behind his sunglasses, his eyes floated over the document, and he pulled a serious face. "This is important evidence. You should keep on to it. The information on these creatures is crucial." He said as he handed it back to her.

"There's supposed to be a laboratory beneath this mansion. If there are any answers, they should be down there" Yomi pointed out. "But what's more important now is that we look for Tomo. That's the only thing that matters now."

Wesker took off his sunglasses, pulled out a tissue and cleaned them. "Of course. If I find her, I will take her with me until we meet again. But I have to get going now. I wish you the best of luck."

Yomi nodded. "Okay, thanks. Take care."

Right before he made it to the door, a small, high voice came from his right.

"Ehm...mister?"

He looked down to see Chiyo looking up at him. Her face was nervous and her voice was shaky.

"Ehm... Th...thank you, for saving my life."

He smiled and put his hand on the top of her head. "My pleasure little girl."

Kagura picked up the death mask she dropped during the fight. "I almost forgot about this" she mumbled. It was the mask that smells no evil, as this one didn't have a nose. She placed it in her pack. By then, everyone was ready to move on again. Sakaki had swallowed a Paracetamol pill to supress the pain. Now there was only one of the masks left, but they were left guessing to where it was. Since there was no access to the map of the first floor, Kagura looked for doors they did't open yet on the second floor, but there were none, except for the ones she knew they couldn't open yet. Having no choice, they could only think deeply, trying to remember doors they didn't investigate yet.

"Ah, I got it!" Chiyo cried out. "The hallway right before the room with the staircase! There were 3 more doors there, and I think one of them had an armor!"

Everyone nodded, and without further ado, they walked back to the hallway with the broken mirror, into the staircase room, and into the hallway Chiyo mentioned. The door next to the one they came from had a helmet, and the one in the back did have an armor. Not wasting any time, since they were in a hurry after all, Yomi unlocked it and opened it. In front of them was a classy, beautiful hallway, with a big painting to their right. In the wall were plates of stained glass, each depicting a saint of some sort. The first one was colored yellow, and the person was wearing a bracelet. The second one was also yellow, and the saint was wearing a necklace, while the third wore a crown. Behind the corner, the hallway made a U-turn, so the glass plates were also visible here. In the back, a colored painting of a woman wearing a green crown, a purple necklace and an orange bracelet. Underneath the painting was some writing.

_Lisa, protected by the three spirits._

Below each stained window was a switch. Curiously, Kagura flipped it, and a light hanging from the wall behind her suddenly turned on, causing the window to go from yellow to pure white.

"Another puzzle..." Yomi sighed. "What do we do Osaka?"

Osaka looked up like she was torn out of a daydream. "Huh? Ehm... Make the windows turn the same color as the one on the painting? Like, this one has a bracelet on, so it should be orange."

Yomi nodded. "Kagura, go to the other side and press the switch on this one."

Kagura obeyed and ran across the corner, and when she was there, she pressed the switch from the other side. The light from that side went out, and the glass turned green.

"No, that's not it..." Yomi pondered. She then pressed the switch from her side, the light went off, and the glass turned orange.

"Hey, it worked!" Kagura exclaimed from the other side.

"Alright, now for the other ones. Everyone scatter, so we can get this over with as fast as possible" said Yomi.

After pushing a few switches, the glass with the sage wearing a necklace turned purple, and the one with the crown turned green. The puzzle, according to Osaka, was complete. Yomi then pushed the switch underneath the painting of Lisa, and the wall vibrated and slowly moved upwards. Behind it, it lead back outside, behind the fence in the cemetery. More importantly, right before them, lay the last death mask, the one without a mouth.

"Oh, perfect, we're back in the graveyard!" Yomi wailed.

"That's good" Kagura said while picking up the mask. "The crypt where we need to be now is right there."

"Hmpf, yeah, but still. I chose not to come here for a reason you know" she huffed.

The only thing standing in their way now was a small gate. To their dismay, it wouldn't open. It seemed that they had to travel all the way back to the main hall to get to the crypt, but Kagura had different plans. She aimed her gun beneath the handle and blew out the locking system, causing the gate to open immediately.

Yomi facepalmed. "Oh, NOW she comes up with that."

The corpses of the zombies were all still there. None of them had decided to get up again. The disemboweled zombie that was laying against one of the fences had attracted many flies, and made for a horribly grotesque sight. With throbbing hearts to let them know they were still alive, they descended what looked like the stairway to Hell. Suddenly, the wave of heat hit them like a punch in the face.

"Ugh, I never thought I would have to come down to a place like this. It's like a volcano down here!" Yomi complained.

Osaka pulled her T-shirt back and forth to create some ventilation. "I can barely breath here. This must be what Hell is like."

"I know, but let's get this over with. Everyone, gather the masks." Kagura rallied them.

Osaka and Sakaki handed her the death masks, and she proceeded to place them over the matching faces on the wall. After 2 masks however, 2 loud clangs were heard, followed by a liquid splashing to the floor. Startled, Yomi, Osaka and Chiyo went to see what happened. On the floor were now splatters of blood that weren't there before, and the 2 chains suspending the bottom of the coffin hanging from the ceiling came loose. Drops of blood seeped out of the holes where the chains once were attached, and the coffin was slightly swinging back and forth.

"Wh...what the hell is in that thing?" Yomi winced.

Kagura knew there was no time to stall, so she inserted the last two masks on the faces. With two more clangs, the last two chains holding up the coffin came loose. As blood squirted out of the holes, it fell to the floor with a groundshaking thud.

Slowly, the five girls approached the heavy wooden coffin with the lid still on it. Kagura leaned over the casket, and on the lid was a name.

"_George Trevor"_

"All in favor of opening it, raise your hand" she said. Naturally, no one raised her hand. Kagura sighed. "Well, I have to open it anyway. So here goes."

Kagura gently placed her fingers underneath the lid and pulled it up. Inside was a familiar sight. A dead body, with most of the skin gone, but what was left was crimson red. On the hands, claws measuring up to 2 inches, and steel shackles on each wrist with a part of the chain still hanging on it. The body was covered with ripped, black clothing.

"Evil has been awakened..." Osaka whispered.

Just when Osaka said that, the eyes of the creature shot open, and it started squirming itself up.

"Oh shit! A Crimson Head!" shouted Kagura.

Kagura ran back to the rest of the group and got into position. The upgraded zombie was now standing on what was left of its feet. It had a hunching pose, its arms hanging low, and only a few grunts and gurgles came out of it. It looked around for a while, the chains on its arms clinging against eachother.

"What are we waiting for? Someone shoot the damn thing!" Yomi whispered.

Yomi's words weren't cold yet, or the monster stomped its foot on the ground, pulled its arms back and gave a bloodcurdling roar. Kagura, Osaka and Sakaki immediately opened fire as the Crimson Head stormed up to them, but it was right in front of them before they even knew it. With a swift sweep, it knocked the shotgun right out of Sakaki's hands, and the far end of the chain hit her in the face. Kagura and Osaka took a few steps away from the beast, and Sakaki stumbled backwards, her hand holding the place of impact. It took another sweep at her, but she dodged it and managed to catch the chain, firmly holding on to it. Then, like she was Chuck Norris, she landed a graceful roundhouse kick with her left foot straight in the creature's face. The Crimson Head stumbled back a few meters and fell flat on its back.

Yomi opened the cylinder of her grenade launcher, and filled the two empty slots with acid grenades. She gave it a good spin and slammed it shut.

"Everyone, move out of the way!" she ordered.

The monster was getting up again. But Sakaki's kick had caused its jaw to break, as it was now wobbling under its face loosely. When it stood up, it felt the jaw with its clawed hand and even attemped to put it back in its place.

Yomi aimed the grenade launcher towards the creature. "Okay you creep. Are you feeling lucky? 4 of these grenades are explosive, the other 2 are acid. It's like Russian Roulette, but either way, you're screwed."

The monster wasn't impressed by Yomi's taunts, so it continued to hunt for its prey. As it once again stormed up to them, Yomi pulled the trigger. Instead of a boom on impact, there was now a sizzling sound. The 40 mm grenade had bursted into steaming, sickly yellow fluid, and latched onto the monsters skin immediately. Ulcers began to form on its skin, and the flesh literally melted off the skull. Roaring and frantically slicing its claws around, it fell into the puddle of aggressive acid below, and it quickly started eating away the muscle tissue that was left. Blood mixed with the agent giving it a gross orange color, and the stench of it all was unbearable. It twitched a few times and attempted to crawl away, but it was no use.

Yomi, as everyone else, placed her hand in front of her nose to block the smell. "Oh man, that's nasty!"

"Ugh, like a Gremlin in sunlight!" said Osaka.

They stayed as far away from the nearly boiling remains of the monster as possible and peered into the coffin. Inside was a small, steel, octagonal crest with a stone border. In the middle of the crest was an nicely decorated emblem, and the background had a silver and red pattern.

"Say, does this look familiar to you too?" Kagura noted.

Sakaki knew what she meant, and she pulled out the bottle of medicine she picked up. She held the logo on it next to the crest. It was exactly the same.

"Umbrella? No way, it couldn't be..."

Yomi took the B.O.W. file from her pocket and read through the fine print on the bottom of the page. There it was, barely visible, Umbrella Inc.

"I...impossible! How could I have missed that?"

"So it's true? Umbrella is responsible for this?" Kagura mused.

"B...but I thought Umbrella was a pharmaceutical company! How could they have done something like this?" Chiyo interrupted.

Yomi pushed the paper back in her pocket and pulled a serious face. "I don't know, but these bastards have been keeping some secrets from everyone. I will find out, I assure you."

She looked at the nearly molten corpse of the Crimson Head. "That thing used to be a normal person like us. They did this to him. We can't let them get away with this..."

After this shocking revelation, Kagura placed the crest into her sidepack and they left the hot and smelly crypt. Back in the graveyard, they followed the path through the gate that was busted open, through the hallway and back to the next one where they came from. The only door left was the one in front of them. It seemed like an exit, as this part of the hallway was a lot darker and a chilly breeze could be felt. Behind it was an alley, with a high fence to their left, giving a view of the surrounding forest. From behind it, they could hear the dogs running around and barking. At the back of this alley was another door, and an octagonal indentation.

"Well, looks like I have to say goodbye to this already" said Kagura. She placed the stone and metal crest into the indentation, and with that, the heavy looking steel door was unlocked.

Opening it revealed a small shed with some gardening items scattered all over the place. There was a set of stairs leading down to a wooden door, and a wooden double door at the back.

"Think she may have been here?" Yomi asked.

"I think so. The objects on these shelves have been moved!" Sakaki noticed. The dust collected on the shelves showed clean circles sticking out underneath the pots when they were moved. Someone had been here recently. They could only hope that it was Tomo.

"Which way did she go?" Kagura wondered.

Osaka slowly opened the double door and peered through it. She saw at least three dogs circling around some fountain. "Not this one, no way!" she blurted.

They went through the wooden door down the steps and found a muddy road going downhill. Water was streaming off the rocks, and the dead trees in the distance made an eerie background. In the mud, between the grass and rocks, Chiyo found several footprints leading down.

"Oh damn it Tomo! Why did you have to go in there?" Yomi muttered. She was now seriously worried for her safety. As everyone carefully moved down the slippery hill, Yomi could only think about one thing.

"Please, please be alive Tomo-chan!"

* * *

Wata : A little shorter, but harder than the last one. And yeah, I love to keep the tension. If you wanna know what happens to Tomo, you'll have to wait a little longer! XD Hey, I couldn't have made a time gap and ignore all the others right? Besides, you would have missed the fights with the Yawn and the Crimson Head Elder. If you liked it, review! If you didn't like it, review, but clearly state why not! Negative commentary is welcome too, but that doesn't mean you can flame me. I warned you.

Tomo : Blast! I was totally ignored in this chapter!

Yomi : No you weren't! At least you didn't have to deal with a big ass snake.

Sakaki : I hate snakes now...

Wata : Look forward to the next one!


	13. Deadly Encounters

_Chapter 13, my lucky number!_

_It's another big one, and I think, IMHO, that it's a success._

_Get ready for the most emotional but also most action packed chapter so far._

_I do not own AzuDa or Resi in any way. I only own this fanfic and this sweet Cannibal Corpse T-shirt._

_Enjoy, review, and afterwards, do whatever you like.  
_

* * *

Chapter 13 : Deadly Encounters

"Wh...where am I? Am I...dead? No...that's impossible. This isn't heaven, it's nothing like anyone has ever told me. Heaven is a much more beautiful place than this, I'm sure."

Tomo found herself floating in an empty, dark space. Everything was black, like she had fallen into an abyss and couldn't get out. No matter how much she tried to run, she didn't move an inch. No matter how hard she tried to scream, she made no sound. She seemed to be surrounded by deep, roaring sounds, and they were closing in on her from all sides. She looked all around her, but there was nothing there, only an endless darkness. Despite all that, she didn't feel scared, although something told her she should be. She simply closed her eyes as the roars slowly turned into flickering sounds.

"That's it! This is a dream. I'm alive! Must be! Everything is just a nightmare. Time to wake up Tomo, wake up, wake up..."

With a terrible throbbing sensation in her head, Tomo gently opened her eyes. Everything was just a blur, and although she was conscious again, she couldn't move. She was laying belly down on the carpet in front of the furnace, the hot waves stroking her back. After 30 seconds, she moaned and found the strenght to slowly push herself up. She sat straight, supporting her head with her right hand.

"Uuhhh, my head. Feels like I was ran over by a bus. What happened?"

She felt the back of her head, and felt a small crust in between her hair. Also, a small line of dried blood was on her neck, running down her back. Holding her head, she tried to remember what happened to her.

"I...I got hit. Something hit me on the head. I remember. My camera...I dropped it."

She looked around with an unfocused vision, and saw the camera laying on the table beneath the railing. When it fell out of her hand, it bounced on the floor and fell in between the bars, with the lense aiming towards the stairs.

Shaking and unstable, she stood up and picked it up. It had been recording all this time, but Tomo couldn't tell how long she was out. The battery didn't seem to have run dry yet though, so Chiyo wasn't kidding when she said it could last for a long time. Tomo eagerly stopped the recording and rewinded the footage it filmed when she was out cold. She reached a point, probably not long after she was knocked out, when she saw herself being dragged down the steps. The creature that was pulling her legs was barely visible, because it was mostly blocked by the railing, but she saw pale legs and arms in between them, and a weird shaped back sticking out above it. She suddenly remembered what she was so afraid of before. The monster that she saw through the window, that she heard before in the main hall, was the same one that knocked her out. The chains, the moans, there was no doubt about it. She realised that she couldn't stay there any longer.

"Yomi... the others! Where are they? They may be worried about me. I have to get out of here before..."

She couldn't finish her sentence when she heard the front door opening again, and falling shut about a second later. Tomo took a few steps backwards and felt a cold shiver running down her spine.

"G...guys? Please let it be you..." she desperately hoped.

Her hopes were soon shattered when she heard slow, shuffeling footsteps moving down the entrance hallway, with the same sound of a clinging chain accompanied with each step. She reached for her Beretta and turned on her camera again, as her heart beated out of control. She followed the sound with her eyes, bracing herself for whatever was about to enter the same room she was in.

A nightmare, it was a terrifying, nightmarish creature that she layed her eyes upon. Faces, at least a dozen of faces clothed the creature's back and head like dead skin masks. In fact, they were ripped off human faces, and this thing was wearing them. It didn't end there. It hunched so much that its hands nearly touched the floor while it walked, and a blunt protrusion stuck out its back. Above the left shoulder was something that looked like a disgusting tumor, but to Tomo's horror, it was actually a red, moving eye. The gown it was wearing was old and torn, stained with years old blood, and through the tears, ribs were visible. The hands were held together by heavy wooden manacles, much like the ones used in medieval times, and they appeared to have grown into the wrists, staining the wood red around the holes. On both feet were iron shackles, attached by the ankles, dragging what was left of the chains behind it. The arms were quite skinny, but they seemed to be too long for human standards. Finally, in between the human face masks, she could see the creature's dead and cold eye, as well as the teeth. Slowly, it stumbled towards the now terrified girl, the chains clinging with each step it took.

"Wh...what are you?!" Tomo blurted out. It replied with a sorrowful, female-like moan. Tomo moved backwards, and without hesitating, fired 5 bullets, aimed at what she would make out as the head. It flinched for a moment and let out an earsplitting shriek of pain, before it continued to move in on her again. Tomo soon realised that bullets weren't going to stop this thing. She had no choice but to run past it. Unfortunately, her motoric functions hadn't completely recovered yet, and she even had trouble standing up.

"Damn, I guess it's all or nothing now." In a leap of fate, Tomo tried to dash past the monster, but she was too slow. It pulled its arms backwards to the right, and when Tomo was right beside it, swung them with an incredible force. Tomo got the manacles in her gut with a devastating blow, launching her back to the wall behind her. She fell down, her hands holding her stomach that now felt crushed. She cried out in agony between painful coughs, tears once again streaming down her face. The creature staggered and twitched while giving a ominous croak, and then continued to stumble towards Tomo. In a feeble attempt to escape, she tried to crawl up the dusty wooden stairs, but she was soon intercepted with another painful blow to her side. Her eyes widened and she vomited a small amount of blood, before she rolled over on her back, crimson running down her chin and tears rolling over her cheeks. She looked up to the monster now towering over her.

"Y...you bitch!" she sputtered. "I refuse to...to be killed by you."

With a moan, it raised its hands above its head, ready to deliver the fatal blow to the helpless girl. Tomo closed her eyes and awaited the strike that would end her life. In a fraction of a second, her past life flashed before her eyes. She saw Yomi, her best friend but also her antagonist, with who she laughed and fought. Then Kagura, the athletic girl that she often could vent her energy with. Osaka was next, the dopey, spacey girl she often poked fun at, but had many great times with. Sakaki, the silent girl that was still somewhat of a mystery to her, but she had a strange admiration for. Chiyo, the small one, who she often teased just because she was a lot smarter than her. Next were Yukari, her manic homeroom teacher that she saw herself in, Nyamo, who was always friendly to everyone no matter what, Kaorin, her nice but somewhat strange ex-classmate, and even Kimura, the perverted teacher that always creeped her out. Another tear rolled down her cheek and she muttered something incoherently.

"Everyone...I'm so sorry..."

"Oh my God! Tomo-chan!" A voice shook her out of her final daydream.

She opened her eyes and saw Yomi and Kagura standing in the door opening. "A...am I dreaming?"

A well aimed bullet stopped the monster in its tracks. Several more showered the disfigured back as it stumbled around frantically, shrieking and croaking. A louder blast and a barrage of hail made the monster trip and fall down, and she saw Yomi running up to her.

"Sakaki-san! Grab the camera!" she shouted.

"Y...Yomi? Is that really you?"

"Yeah, don't worry, you're gonna be fine. Let's go!"

Yomi threw Tomo's arm around her neck and heaved her up. Tomo barely had any energy left, but used what she had to stay on her feet. Clumsily, Yomi dragged Tomo towards the door, where Kagura and Osaka were waiting.

"Yomi! Look! What on earth is that thing?!" Kagura suddenly shouted.

The floored monster was now squirming on the floor like a dog that had just been run over. Several tentacles sprouted out of the back, accompanied with a sickly putrid slime, whipping around the room wildly. Moaning and screaming, it wiggled back up again.

"Oh damn! That thing is bullet proof! Come on, move!" Yomi yelled.

Not having to be told twice, they all ran towards the door, opened it and slammed it shut again, as they heard a last angry shriek coming from inside.

Yomi and Kagura supported the wounded Tomo down the muddy pathway downhill.

"Thanks... but how did you find me?" Tomo spoke up weakly.

"We were just here and heard gunshots coming from the cabin, so we ran up there as fast as we could" Yomi explained.

"Oi, Osaka! Is that thing following us?" asked Kagura.

Osaka looked behind, but saw or heard nothing. She shook her head. "No, I don't think so..."

When they reached the broken statue of the angel, Tomo suddenly felt the content of her stomach rolling up her esophagus. She pulled her arm back from Kagura's shoulder and placed her hand in front of her mouth. Yomi saw it coming, and leaned her down by the nearest bush. Tomo gagged and violently threw up, but since she hadn't eaten anything for a while, it was mostly bile and stomach acid, and small traces of blood.

Yomi supported her with both arms, dropping the grenade launcher on the ground. "Hey, are you alright? What happened?"

She gasped for air, fluid dripping from her chin and nose. In between hurls, she tried to explain. "I...I got knocked out. When I...came by, that thing hit me in the stomach... Ugh... I'm fine, but it re...really hurts."

Kagura leaned down next to her. "What was that thing?"

"A...a woman. I'm sure of it! I...I found this." She reached inside her pocket, pulled out a torn picture and handed it to Kagura. "O...urgh...on the back..."

Kagura made out the sloppy handwriting on the back of the photo. "It...err she's looking for her mother?"

Tomo nodded, and regurgitated a dose of bile again.

"Her mother?" Chiyo pondered.

Tomo wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. "I also found this." She took the crank from behind her belt and showed it to them. "I don't know if we can...use it, but I took it with me."

"Okay. But stop talking now. We're taking you to someplace safe" Yomi said while gently patting her on the back.

After Tomo was done, Yomi helped her straight and they headed back to the graveyard. When they got there, Yomi's eye fell on the two large tombstones standing in the back.

"Sakaki, could you take Tomo for a minute? I'm gonna check out those tombstones over there."

Sakaki nodded silently, and placed Tomo's arm around her neck. On the base of the right stone, Yomi saw a small hexagonal indentation, and three more on the one on the left. Yomi thought for a second, then searched in her sidepacks. She took out the crest with the gust of wind on it she found in the bathtub in the mansion. Hesitantly, she placed it into the hole. A mechanism made the plate turn around, revealing 3 more crests, one with the symbol of a sun, one with a star and one with a moon. She took out all three of them and examined them. The star crest had an iron cross sticking out, the sun crest had 3 horizontal lines and the moon crest had 2 vertical lines. She placed the grenade launcher against the tombstone and checked the one on the left. In the 3 indentations were the exact same forms as the ones on the crests.

"Hmpf, too easy!" she grinned. She placed the crests into their respective places, and another mechanism was triggered. The plate turned and, to her surprise, revealed a large, steel revolver with a wooden coated handle. Fascinated, and wondering why a gun like this was here, she took it out of the pedestal.

"What is it Yomi?" Kagura asked as she marched up to her.

"A gun."

"Ah, that's no regular gun. That's a Magnum Revolver! It's supposed to be really strong!"

Yomi examined it. The cylinder was fully loaded, and it was so clean she could see herself in it. "Who's going to use it? Which one of us is still unarmed?"

"Well, that would be Chiyo-chan, but...I think this is a bit too much for her to handle."

"You're right. You take it for now" said Yomi as she handed the gun to Kagura.

Suddenly, a big crow landed on the top of the tombstone without a warning, scaring the hell out of Yomi and Kagura. It sat there, looking around, flapping its wings. Suddenly, at least 7 more landed in one of the trees near them, cawing and croaking like no tomorrow. Yomi gulped and slowly took her grenade launcher back, then signalled Kagura to silently get out of there. The others got the message, and slowly made their way to the gate, leading back to the path uphill. However, it was at this moment that Tomo felt another sharp, excruciating jolt of pain in her stomach. Involuntarily, she yelped. The others looked up startled as the flock of black birds violently flapped their wings and all flew up simultaniously.

"Aahhh, they're coming for us! Run!" Chiyo wailed.

Kagura quickly helped Sakaki to support Tomo, and they ran off to the path as fast as possible. Tomo moved her legs as well as she could, but she had trouble keeping up with the two fast runners. The way up would be even more difficult. The path was slippery and steep, and the steps were crude. The water running down made it even harder. Osaka looked up and saw the crows circling above them like hungry vultures over a dying animal. One of them suddenly flew straight at them.

"Incoming!!!" she shouted, and aimed her handgun up. She pulled the trigger, and it turned out to be a direct hit. The crow got pierced by the lead projectile, knocking it back up, black feathers scattered in mid-air. The recoil made Osaka trip and fall while walking up the unstable steps. She scurried herself straight and continued to run, as she heard the dead body of the bird dropping down in the mud. The girls had made it half way the path when the remaining six crows dove down.

"Come on! Hurry! They're coming!" yelled Yomi.

Kagura looked behind and saw to of them right behind her. She moved her free arm back and shot her handgun 3 times. One of the bullets was a hit, but that still left another one. It started flapping around her head, trying to scratch and peck her. Kagura waved her arm above her, attempting to hit it with the barrel of her gun. Tomo removed her arm from around Sakaki's neck, pulled out her dagger and slashed away at the crazy bird. A bit of blood splattered on Kagura's face and the crow gave one last deathcroak before plummeting down behind them.

"That'll show him!" she smirked.

The door was right in front of them now, but there were still 4 crows on their trail. Yomi ran up to the door, opened it and rallied everyone inside. As soon as everyone made it, she closed the door behind her. She panted and sighed in relief.

Kagura and Sakaki let Tomo sit down against the wall, and Yomi walked up to her and sat on her knees. She saw dried tears on her cheeks, and her eyes were red.

"Hey, are you alright Tomo-chan?" she asked concerned.

Tomo looked up to her with glossy eyes. "My head hurts like hell, and I'm not even gonna describe my stomach...but..."

"Okay, don't talk, I'll patch you up." Yomi took the first-aid kit she had used plenty of times.

"No...I...I wanna say something..." she stuttered. Her eyes started to water again.

"Everyone... I'm sorry. I know it's my fault that we're all stuck here and..." she pauzed and could no longer control her tears. The feeling of guilt once again creeped up on her, and was a thousand times more painful than the injuries that she had substained.

Everyone sat or stood around her, witnessing the always so cheerful wildcat breaking down.

"I...I never wanted this. Really! If I knew this was going to happen I... I should have listened, but I didn't. I never do! I'm such an idiot! I deserved that punch that Yomi threw at me, and I should be here all by myself! I should have died back at that cabin and..."

"Shut up!" Yomi interrupted her hysterical rambling. "What are you saying you idiot?! Do you really think that things would be any better if you were here alone? And you're saying that you should have died? Did you ever think about how we would feel?"

"Yomi..."

"Listen, we're your friends. I'm sorry about hitting you and saying those things, but that was just in the spur of the moment! Don't even think for a moment that we don't care about you." Yomi now had a hard time holding her tears back herself.

"We're in this together, and we're getting out of this together. And I'm not letting any of my friends die!"

Tomo's lower lip started to tremble and tears flowed down her face non-stop. "You...you saved my life... Th...thank you..." She buried her face into Yomi's shoulder, put her arms around her and cried out loud. "I...I'm so...stupid!"

Yomi gently wrapped her arms around her and tears welled up in her eyes as well. "I forgive you Tomo-chan. But don't you ever say such foolish things again."

"I...I'm scared!" she managed to squeeze out between sobs.

"Me too..." Yomi softly replied.

The rest spectated this scene and they all had a melancholic smile on their faces. This was the first time ever that they really saw Tomo cry.

"Oi, Tomo-chan." Kagura spoke up. "Remember that toast we made? We said we were gonna get out of here together, as a team. Don't forget that!"

"We came back for you Tomo-chan. After you got separated, we looked for a way out to find you" Chiyo added.

Osaka continued. "We even had to face a big scary snake for that."

"That's right" Sakaki nodded. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What's more important is that we all stick together and support eachother."

Yomi slowly pushed Tomo back and wiped her tears away with her finger. "They're right you know. We're here for you, so you can stop crying now. I never really said this before, but I like you the way you are. Even though you're an annoying brat sometimes" she chuckled for a moment. "But right now, we need the optimistic Tomo that you always are. So cheer up!"

Tomo stared at her with soaked eyes for a while. Suddenly, inside of her, it was like thunderclouds were being pierced by rays of sunlight. Miraculously, her head and stomach hurted less than it did before. Her mouth curved to a smile.

"All of you... Thank you so much..."

Everyone smiled and put their hands on her shoulder.

"Good to have you back soldier!" said Kagura.

Tomo sat straight against the wall as still as she could while Yomi inspected her wounds. The injury from the hit from the manacles on the back of her head was not severe, but she may have recieved a slight concusion because of it. She would probably have a headache for a while, but she was extremely lucky. If the manacles had hit her only a few inches lower, it could have been fatal. The strike to her stomach and side had left nasty bruises, that would probably lead to hematomas. She did vomit up a small amount of blood before, but since it was not much, it was probably just a small wound in her stomach, ejected out by the force of the blow. Since she wasn't spitting out any more, Yomi didn't fear any severe internal bleeding. All in all, the injuries weren't all that bad, definitely not life threatening. She bandaged her around the waist to be sure, and gave her one of Sakaki's painkillers.

"Here, swallow this."

"If I can keep it down..." She took the pellet and swallowed it. "I suppose none of you have any water huh?" to which Yomi shook her head negatively.

"Damn, I knew I should have brought some from the kitchen" she sighed.

Yomi stood up and reached her a hand. "Can you walk?"

Tomo grasped her hand and pulled herself up with Yomi's help. "I think so... I'll let you know when I'm about to fall down."

About ready to move on, they were about to open the double door in the back, when Osaka tried to warn them.

"Be careful! I saw some of those dogs there before."

"Cerberus huh? We'll deal with them. Sakaki-san, Kagura-san, lets go!" said Yomi.

She slowly pulled the handle and pushed the door open, cautious for the dangerous canines that were supposed to be right behind it. But they couldn't believe their eyes, nor could ever have expected what they saw.

There were zombie dogs alright, but they were all over the place. Like jigsaw pieces, the bodyparts of the dogs were strewn all over the small plaza, apparantly torn apart by an amazing force. One of the mutilated bodies hung up on the fountain beneath a stone canopy in the middle with its entrails, coloring the water red. On the ground, blood splattered everywhere, and all of the cadavers had the legs and intestines pulled out. On what was left of the bodies, deep claw and bitemarks were clearly visible. The girls gasped at this carnal bloodbath, with a decapitated head of one of the unlucky critters right in front of them.

"Good Lord, what could have done something like this?!" Kagura exclaimed in disbelief.

"I...I don't get it! They were all alive when I last saw them here about 20 minutes ago..." Osaka commented. "You think one of those monkeys did this?"

"Well, as much as you could call them 'alive'" said Yomi. She walked up to one of the remaining torsos. "Look at the size of these clawmarks. This isn't the work of an Eliminator."

"Well whatever did this, it sure looks like it had a lot of fun doing it. What a mess!" Tomo said while leaning against the wall.

"You're right." Yomi responded. "This thing didn't do it for the food. It's like it did it just for fun!"

"These dogs never stood a chance..." said Sakaki, while holding an uncomfortable Chiyo closer to her.

Anxiously, they left the carnage behind and headed for the gate in the back of the blood ridden plaza. They went up a set of stairs and opened it. Before them was a pool filled with murky water, and it looked pretty deep to them.

"Great, no way am I gonna swim through this. We should find a way around it." Yomi sighed.

They looked around for an alternative way, and Tomo saw a device standing on a platform on the left side of the pool.

"What's that?" she asked while pointing to it.

They got closer to it to investigate, and it seemed to be a rotation device. In the center was a small, square shaped hole. Tomo immediately got the picture and took the crank from her belt.

"The crank. Good thing I picked it up" she grinned.

"Let me do it Tomo-chan" said Kagura. "You save your strenght."

Kagura placed the square tip into the hole, held it tightly on both sides and rotated it. The device seemed to be a bit rusty, so she had to use quite a lot of force to actually turn it. A large watergate opened in front of them, letting all the water flow out of the pool. On the bottom of it, a small pathway revealed itself. After the process was done, a sound of a waterfall was audible.

"Phew, that should do the trick" Kagura puffed.

A small, rusty ladder lead down to the pathway, and on the other side, another ladder lead up again to the other side. The could now cross the pool without getting themselves wet. One by one, they descended the ladder, traversed it, and climbed up again. As Sakaki pulled Chiyo up, they found themselves on a narrow walkway, with stone railings to their right. They followed it, crossed a few corners and walked over a bridge until they found a small, round elevator. It didn't look like it could carry more than 2 people, so they had to go in three turns.

"Okay, We'll have to go down here in three groups of two. I suggest Osaka and me go first. Once down, I'll send the elevator back up to you, got it?" Yomi suggested.

Everyone nodded, and Yomi and Osaka stood on the rusty, round elevator. She pressed the switch and it moved down. The others could only wait for the elevator to return. Kagura leaned against the stone railing and looked up to the sky.

"What's up Kagura? Have another bad feeling about this?" Tomo said as she joined her in leaning against the railing.

"Yeah. It's just that we're getting further and further away from the mansion. Aren't you worried about what we're gonna find, well, down there?"

Tomo placed her hands behind her head. "Well, yeah, but my motto is, don't worry about something until it presents itself."

Kagura chuckled. "Heh, sounds like you're back to normal. I just hope we don't run into that thing that tore up those dogs."

Just then, the elevator returned, and it was Tomo and Kagura's turn to take it down. This left Sakaki and Chiyo behind, waiting for their turn.

"Chiyo-chan, how are you doing?" Sakaki asked her.

"I'm fine, I guess. How's your chest, does it still hurt?"

"A little, but don't worry about me. I heard from Yomi what happened in the attic. I still have to thank you" she smiled warmly.

"Ah...ehh... it was nothing really. I just couldn't stand seeing you get hurt... Sakaki-san? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"You, well, you would do the same for me right?"

Sakaki layed her hand on Chiyo's shoulder. "Of course! I said I would protect you, didn't I? I'm keeping my word."

Chiyo smiled back at her. "Thank you. I'm counting on you."

They waited until the elevator returned to them, boarded it, and followed the rest of the team down.

Down there was another plaza, and Osaka was looking at the waterfall that was caused by the watergate that Kagura had opened. She noticed a tunnel behind it, but the force of the water falling down was too strong to just walk through it. She figured they would have to find a way to deactivate the waterfall first before they could just waltz in there. In the back of the plaza, behind where Osaka was standing, was another elevator, but when Yomi pushed the button, it wouldn't move. To her right, there was a hole in the wall with two plugs where a battery or another energy source should be. Before they could make it work, they would have to find a battery first. Near the elevator they used to get there was a tree and a white statue of a bird, and at the opposite side was another gate. Before they could leave and head for it, they were startled by a sudden yelling coming from behind the gate, followed by a shriek.

"Wh...what was that?" Kagura stuttered.

Next they could hear footsteps coming right for them, right behind the gate. It suddenly shot open, and a man, estimated in his middle thirties, stormed through. He wore a torn up and bloodied labcoat, and his body was covered with scratches and deep gashes. He leaned against the gate, breathing heavily, before he saw the girls standing before him.

"A survivor!" Kagura exclaimed.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?" Yomi wanted to run up to the man to help him, but he stook out his hand, signalling them to stay where they were.

"Don't...don't come any closer, get out of here! It's coming!"

"What? What is?!"

"Don't ask any questions! Run!"

A terrifying screech was suddenly heard from behind the man, and before he could even look behind, a monster leaped at him, slicing his head clean off with one quick swipe. Blood squirted out of the stump, and the head flew through the air, hitting Yomi in the belly before falling in front of her feet, a horrified expression stuck on the face. Yomi stumbled backwards and held her hand in front of her mouth, her whole body shaking.

"Oh...oh no..."

The body then fell to the knees and slumped backwards, staining the ground with blood all around. Standing next to the decapitated man was a large, dark green, humanoid, reptile like creature. It hunched slightly, but it was still at least as big as Tomo, Kagura and Osaka. The body was buff and looked very muscular and armored. It didn't seem to have a neck, so the head was right above the chest, consisting of a wide mouth with sharp teeth and yellow cat like eyes. Running down the back, the scales were slightly aimed upwards, causing them to look like small, sharp spikes. The large claws on its muscular arms were stained with blood. The creature made a frog like croaking noise, as it noticed the girls standing only a few meters away.

"Hunter! It's a Hunter! From the B.O.W. list!" Kagura yelled. "Kill it!"

Yomi didn't hesitate and fired a grenade, but before it could hit, the Hunter dodged it by jumping in the air. As the grenade bursted, Yomi looked up and saw the creature quickly coming down, about to land straight on top of her. In a reflex, Yomi dropped her launcher and held her arms in front of her face.

"Yomi, look out!" Tomo screamed.

The monster shrieked again as it pushed her over. Yomi looked up into its oval pupils and grabbed it by the arms, trying to stop it from slashing at her throath. Sakaki kicked it in its side in an attempt to push it off her, but it wasn't impressed, and only squeeled viciously at her. Yomi lost her grip on the arm, and the creature pulled it back, about to slice her head off.

Sakaki pulled the trigger on her shotgun, and the hail forcefully launched it off Yomi, knocking it against one of the pillars on the plaza, leaving a trail of blood. She then helped to pull Yomi up.

"Thanks Sakaki-san. I thought I was done for."

Kagura pulled out the Magnum and aimed it at the creature.

"Stand back, I'll take care of it!"

The Hunter had most of the hail penetrated its arm and some in the chest, but that didn't stop it from shooting up again. It was furious now, and let out a series of bloodthirsty screams. It swiftly wobbled forward and jumped up high in the air again, repeating the same attack method. However, this time it had its claws ready to slice away on landing. Kagura had no time to move out of the way, so if this bullet missed, she could consider herself stone dead, ripped to bloody ribbons. She concentrated her aim and pulled the trigger. A loud and powerful blast made the gun almost hit her in the face and she stumbled back, but was stopped in her tracks by Yomi who was standing behind her. The bullet struck the monster straight in its open mouth, piercing it through the throat and coming out its back again. The Hunter was ejected back, hit the pillar on its way and hit the floor with a loud thud. Small chunks of flesh fell next to it, and blood squirted out its mouth. It sat itself straight one last time, and the girls could now see what the gun really had induced. The force of the bullet had not only pierced it, but also knocked a hole, big enough to look through it, straight through the head. The creature made sounds that varied from shrieks to gurgles, as it squirmed and choked on its own blood. After a few short seconds, all signs of life dissapeared, and a large puddle formed underneath it.

"Holy cow... That was scary!" Tomo sighed.

Kagura's arms were shaking while still holding the smoking Magnum. "Th...this gun is just too much! Did you see what it did?"

"Sure did! I don't think we should be using it except in case of an emergency" said Yomi.

Osaka got a little closer to the now still creature. "So it was this thing that messed up the dogs back there. Figures, I wouldn't want to be caught in those claws."

Sakaki walked up to the headless person. She kneeled down and saw a name tag pinned on the chest pocket.

"Ernest Baldwin"

She felt in the pockets and found a large control key, with the words "Control Room" on it. It seemed important, so she put it in her sidepack. A soft sound made her look up. She quickly stood up and looked above the wall near the elevator. The rest was still examining the dead Hunter, but we're soon rallied by Sakaki's yelling.

"Everyone, let's get out of here! Hurry!" She didn't wait for it and went through the gate, waving her arms to stress everyone to move it. Nobody understood what was going on, but followed her anyway. As soon as everyone made it in the alleyway, Sakaki threw the gate shut. Just when she did that, 4 white monkeys jumped down the wall and stormed up to the gate. They crashed into it, their arms sticking out between the bars, clawing for the girls that were standing just far away enough.

"Ah! It's the monkeys again!" Osaka wailed.

"Oh damn! I don't think that gate is gonna stop them. Move!" Yomi yelled.

One of the Eliminators jumped up to the space between the gate and the stone bow and squeezed through. The sharp spikes on the bars buried into its flesh and held it back, but disregard that, it was still determined to make it through. Sakaki grabbed Chiyo by the arm and started running, and the others followed. Tomo, who still hadn't completely recovered yet, did her best to keep up, her adrenaline helping her in this. Another one of the primates had reached for the handle and pushed the gate open, opening the way for them to pursue the girls, and releasing the one that was stuck.

The girls ran through the wet and mossy alleyway across a few corners and through a small tunnel until they saw a door. However, there were also 2 zombie dogs in their way. The girls hit their brakes as the Cerberus growled and got ready for the attack. Behind them, they could hear the 4 Eliminators closing in on them fast. They were completely surrounded, and if they didn't do something quickly, the would be turned into both dog and monkey food.

"Damn, Sakaki-san! Let's do this!" Kagura yelled.

Sakaki nodded and sprinted forward towards one of the dogs, Kagura doing the same. They lifted their foot and kicked the dogs against the wall. Kagura opened the door and hurried everyone to go inside, before the dogs could pull themselves together.

They stormed through and slammed it shut behind them. Sakaki held the doorknob to prevent the apes from coming in. The monkeys were bashing and scratching the door while emitting earsplitting screeches. She could also hear the dogs and the monkeys' battlecries outside. They didn't seem to be going for the doorknob though, because Sakaki couldn't feel any movement on it. Hesitantly, she let go of it and looked through the dirty barred window in the door. One of the Eliminators was entangled with a Cerberus, scratching and biting one another. The other dog had a monkey on its back, and it was tearing away at its decomposed flesh. Sakaki watched this savage battle to the death with a strange fascination.

"Dammit! I'm so sick of always having to run away! I've had enough surprises for one night." Yomi complained while panting.

Kagura leaned against the wooden wall and wiped her forehead in relief. "I was hoping we wouldn't see those things again. I guess I have to stop hoping..."

"Where are we?" Tomo wondered while looking around.

They now found themselves in an old and dusty shack. Before them were some gardening tools and some shelves containing several dead plants. To their right was a hallway with a big double door in the back and two more along the way, one on the left and one on the right. In the hallway was only one lamp, and cobwebs were all over the place, hanging from the ceiling and walls.

Yomi walked up to Sakaki who was still peering outside the window.

"So, who's winning?" Sakaki turned her head and took a step sideways to allow Yomi to watch too. "Aw, look at that! They're getting along so nicely."

The Cerberus that was in a fight with the primate had pinned it down and slowly tore out its esophagus. The monkey squeeled in pain and spit out a lot of blood. The Eliminator that was on the back of the dog had snapped its neck and was now aggressively pulling the head.

"Cute, very cute..." Yomi winced. "Come on Sakaki-san, let's get going."

Sakaki left the door as she could hear the battle outside picking up again. She knew that the surviving dog was outnumbered and didn't stand a chance. The six girls walked over the creaking wooden floor of the shack and contemplated which door to open first.

* * *

Wata : It's done! It's finally done! After several packs of cigarettes and a few popped bloodvessels, it's finally done. This was mentally the hardest chapter so far, because I had to incorporate several different emotions into it. Yeah, I know it took me only 4 days (still longer than usual), but I spent a lot of time on it in total. I also feel pretty good that I managed to squeeze 5 different enemies in one chapter. Also, as a tribute to my new second favorite horror game series, Silent Hill, I threw in a reference to it! First one to find it gets a cookie XD.

Now, why I tried to make chapter 13 the best so far (dunno if I succeeded). 13 is an unlucky number to some, but not for me. September 13th 2002 was a long awaited date for me, because on that day, Resident Evil Remake (or REbirth) came out for the Nintendo Gamecube in Europe. To make it even better, it was a Friday the 13th! I got it the same day it came out, played it, died at the first zombie (XD) and loved everything about it. Best Friday the 13th of my life. REbirth is still my favorite RE game ever, not even RE 4 changed that.

Osaka : Eliminator versus Cerberus, it's still unclear who would win huh?

Kagura : If only something as awesome as that would happen in the games!

Wata : You know that One Dangerous Zombie mode? Where you can't shoot Forest or you'll be blown to smithereens? I saw a Crimson Head slicing down Forest once. I held my breath at that moment I can tell you. True story!

Tomo : You chose the 13th chapter to torture me and make me cry? Something tells me you're enjoying this!

Wata : I did that because you're secretly my favorite. People will feel compassionate about you!

Tomo : Right...

Yomi : Tomo is your favorite? She has fans?

Tomo : Hey shut it!

Chiyo : Ah, stop hitting eachother! You're upsetting the readers!

Osaka : The Author's Notes section has never been this long. It could be a story on itself.

Sakaki : No, I don't think that's possible. Surely Wata will be running out if ideas soon.

Wata : Darn right. *Dragon Ball Z narrator voice* Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Biological Nightmare!

Yomi : Argh, that was my hair you nutcase!

Tomo : Bite me!


	14. Arachnophobia Hydrophobia

_Chapter 14, ready for take-off._

_I guess you can tell by the title what's it going to be about, oh well._

_I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil. they're owned by Kiyohiko Azuma and Capcom respectively._

_Read, enjoy and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 14 : Arachnophobia/Hydrophobia

Tomo was having a bad reminiscence of her earlier encounter that almost costed her her life. She glanced up to the spiderweb infested ceiling and breathed in some irritating particles of dust. The environment reminded her an awful lot of the traumatizing small cabin she had sworn to never set a single foot in again. In between the webs, she saw some big, hairy housespiders crawling around, startled by the girls' intrusion. Tomo felt a cold shiver running down her spine and decided it would be best to stop looking. What is it with humans' natural fear of spiders anyway, she wondered.

The girls came across a T-junction in the hallway. They now had up to 4 doors to choose from. Yomi thought it would be the best idea to check one door per person. This way, the investigation would be over the fastest way possible. However, she warned everyone not to go through the door, and certainly not to close it behind them. With that said, they scattered themselves over the hallway. Kagura had no luck. The door on the left side of the hallway was locked, and there was no special carving underneath the doorknob like the ones back in the mansion.

"Nope, this one's no good!" she informed the rest.

Yomi was practically standing behind her, trying out the door opposite to Kagura's. This one did open, and lead to a single, dark room. A round fluorescent lamp hung on the ceiling, randomly flickering, clearly running out of steam. To her right were more gardening tools, such as a shovel and a gardenhose. She didn't see all that much because the room was relatively dark. The only other source of light came from the back, behind a nicely decorated fence-like wall. From there, she could see that the walls and floor were no longer made of wood, but out of large, grey stones. The coast was completely clear, so she didn't see why she shouldn't enter. But she left the door open just in case.

Tomo confirmed that the large, red double door in the back of the hallway opened, and she cautiously stook her head inside. She interpretated it as some sort of recreation room. She looked up to the second floor balcony in the back and saw a large table, possibly a pool table, and just a bit down the stairs, throughout the grated wall, she spotted a bar.

"Great! A bar! Maybe we'll find something to drink there!" she grinned.

Like she was about to cross a busy street, she turned her head to the right. There was no monster in sight, so she assumed the coast was clear. That was, until she heard a faint tapping coming from right above her. Slowly, she moved her gaze upwards and her eyes widened.

Meanwhile, Osaka, Sakaki and Chiyo were standing across the corner of the T-junction. The door was right before them in the back, but blocking their path was a large crack in the floor, and two wooden boxes against the wall. Osaka looked inside the dark hole and faintly saw something wiggling inside. Startled, she moved back again.

"There's something in there..." she stated. "We can't just jump over it, I think."

Sakaki shone her flashlight in the hole and saw something like a tentacle beneath the wooden flooring, ready to snatch a passing prey. She looked at the boxes and got an idea.

"Maybe if we climb over those boxes, that thing can't reach us. Maybe..."

Sakaki prepared herself to mount the crates, but was interrupted by a high pitched, sharp and downright loud scream that could make even a zombie jump. It went a little something like this.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Right after that, a door violently slammed shut. Needless to say, Kagura, Osaka, Chiyo and Sakaki got scared the crap out of them, and Yomi frantically stormed back out of the room she was in.

"Wh-wh-what's going on!"

They saw Tomo, curled up in a ball, against the wooden wall. Her whole body was shaking and her pupils were heavily contracted. Sweat was pouring out of her pores and she was breathing heavily. Oddly, she was scratching herself all over her body in a state of panic and fear. Something seemed to have traumatised her, as she was gently rocking back and forth.

"Oi, Tomo-chan, what's wrong? What did you see?" Kagura asked curiously while crouching down before her.

Tomo slowly turned her shaking and fear-ridden head up. "Th-th-the-th-th...sp-spi-sp-sp-sp-spi" she stuttered and gulped.

Kagura tilted her head sideways confused and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Tomo attempted to bring the words over her shaking lips but failed. "b-b-b-b-bi-big!"

"Big?..."

Yomi leaned next to her. "Oh come on. You've seen zombies, zombie dogs, murderous monkeys, large beheading reptiles, hell, even that creepy woman monster thing. What could possibly be behind that door that scares you this much?"

Tomo shook her head and tried to talk again. "wh-why...why don't you g-go see for yo-yourself?"

Yomi stood up and gested herself to the door. "Fine you pansy, let me take care of it!"

She threw the door open and looked around, but there was nothing in sight.

"Hey, what's the joke?! There's nothing he..."

Yomi's heart stood still for a moment when she noticed what was above her. She went completely silent and her face turned white. She then pulled the door shut again and turned around to her friends. The others, except Tomo, stared into her big, frightened eyes.

"Wh...what is it?" asked Chiyo.

Yomi didn't say a word and walked up to Tomo in a fast pace. To everyone's surprise, she sat down next to her and took the exact same pose.

"I told you didn't I?" Tomo said in a small voice.

"I-i-i-it was s-s-so big..." she weeped.

Kagura, Osaka, Chiyo and Sakaki all merged for one big sweatdrop.

"So what's the deal? I'm starting get creeped out here" Kagura spoke up, her hand meeting with her forehead.

"Maybe the bogeyman is behind that door" Osaka said dryly.

"I doubt that..." Kagura sighed. "Anyways, Sakaki-san! Are you up to it?" she said while giving a thumbs up.

Sakaki looked at her puzzled, but nodded afterwards. But in reality she was thinking to herself "I really don't want to go in there..."

Kagura and Sakaki marched up to the door, but were interrupted by Yomi.

"H...hold it! Do any of you...suffer from arachnophobia?" she asked weakly.

"Arachnowhat? Is it contagious?" Kagura responded while scratching her head.

Yomi gave her the most stupid look she had ever given anyone, including to Tomo, as if she was trying to say 'you dumbass' with her eyes.

Sakaki looked at Yomi awkwardly, then at Kagura and repeated the process. Osaka formed a large question mark over her head, and Chiyo's eyes turned blank, her right eyelid twitching. For several seconds, there was an awkward silence filling the hallway of the shack.

"N...nevermind... You'll find out..."

Kagura just shrugged and turned around again, heading for the door. Sakaki still had no idea what had just happened, but followed her anyway.

"Man, what an idiot huh?" Tomo said. "Say, Yomi, what's arachnowhatever mean?"

A red vein popped up over Yomi's head and she slammed her head in her palm. "Christ, these people..."

Kagura and Sakaki slowly opened the door again, their guns ready and their eyes peeled. Once again, they saw nothing in the room. Kagura was the first one to look up. She froze and Sakaki followed her gaze upwards.

"Oh... mommy..." Kagura gasped.

They suddenly understood what scared Tomo and Yomi so much. Latched on the ceiling right above them was a tarantula. That alone wouldn't be such a big bother, but it was grossly blown out of proportions. It was at least 10 times as big as a regular one, and that made the hair covering the legs and the rest of the body stand out even more. Except for the collosal size, there was no difference between this one and a normal tarantula. Kagura and Sakaki quickly ran further into the room to get out from underneath the eight-legged freak. The spider proceeded to crawl forward and pushed the doors shut with its paws, preventing Kagura and Sakaki from getting out of the room. The creature was now covering the whole door and suddenly bended its body and front legs towards the girls. They stared right into its 8 small eyes and its sharp fangs moved upwards. Next, a saliva like liquid started to boil in its mouth, sputtering out small drops.

"Oh shit, look out!"

Sakaki and Kagura took a quick, big step sideways, as a large amount of the liquid spewed out of its mouth. Kagura had to pull back her tummy to dodge it, and it splattered all over the floor in front of them.

"What is that? Acid?" Kagura shouted.

"No, it's poison." Sakaki corrected. "Make sure you don't touch it!"

"Crap, I don't think a rolled up newspaper is gonna save us from this vermin. So eat lead you freak!"

Kagura held her handgun to the height of her shoulders and opened fire on the arachnid on steroids. When the bullets hit, a bit of green-brownish slime squirted out, and it lost its grip on the door and fell to the floor.

"Oh yeah! How's that?!" she cheered.

However, she spoke a little too soon. The spider hopped in the air and rotated 180° sideways, landing back on its legs. Angrily, it raised its front legs and stormed up to them. Kagura moved out of the way and landed some more bullets into its carapace. Meanwhile, Sakaki circled the spider and aimed her shotgun at its back. After a loud blast, the abdomen of the spider was blown wide open, and a lot of hemolymph gushed and squirted out. Some of it even landed on Sakaki's clothes and face. In a last spasm, the tarantula rolled on its back and pulled in its big hairy legs like a clenched fist.

"Oh man. I hate spiders..." Kagura sighed.

"You, ehm, wouldn't happen to have a tissue would you?" Sakaki said in a dry tone, with the brown hemolymph still on her face.

Meanwhile, back in the hallway.

"You think they have taken care of it by now?" Yomi asked the rest.

"I'm not going back in that room until they do, that's for sure" said Tomo.

Osaka and Chiyo were still standing there, confused and completely uninformed of what they really saw.

"So, what was in there anyway? When you said arachnophobia, you didn't mean..."

Chiyo's question was interrupted by Kagura who opened the double door again with a thriumphant look on her face.

"Hey, come on out! It's dead."

Osaka and Chiyo ran up to the door and looked at the cadaver of the dead spider laying on the floor. Chiyo weeped at the gigantic creepy crawler, and Osaka just gawked with her mouth wide open.

"Whoa! It's huuuuge!"

"Isn't it?" Kagura said in an almost bragging tone.

Tomo and Yomi carefully peered into the room, with another shiver running down their spine.

"You know Yomi?" Tomo began. "I was wrong. Even when dead, I still don't want to go in the same room as...that thing."

"I know what you mean..." Yomi gulped.

While Sakaki was busy wiping the sludge off herself, Kagura was about to move on when she saw the two cowering girls still standing in the doorway.

"So, are you guys coming or what?"

"We...ehm...we'll wait here. You guys go on." Yomi replied nervously, her voice skipping.

"Y...yeah! Good idea. And look for something to drink at the bar, okay?" Tomo laughed.

Kagura frowned and crossed her arms. "Really now, it's dead! It's not like it's still gonna do something."

Just then, another large dose of the hemolymph squirted out of the spider's abdomen, splashing directly on Kagura's legs.

"Yikes! A-aawwwww, c'mon!!! That's just plain nasty!" she cried out.

Tomo and Yomi couldn't help but laugh at this irony. Kagura shaked her legs like she had just stepped in a deep puddle and turned her head at the duo irritated.

"Oh, very freakin' funny."

Sakaki, Kagura, Osaka and Chiyo walked to the back of the room. There were some old posters pinned against the wall, one being about some arm-wrestling contest. They went down the small steps first down to the bar, and Kagura grabbed one of the table-cloths off one of the 2 tables and wiped off most of the sickly brown goo that was covering her legs. Unfortunately, some of it had already soaked in her shoes, so it felt very uncomfortable to say the least.

"Great, now I have spiderblood filled shoes. You guys look around, I have to clean this up."

Sakaki climbed over the bar and looked through the bottles. There was a vast collection of wodka, whiskey, rum and many other hard liquors, but there were also some bottles of water, beer and cola. She scurried some of those bottles and held them under her arm. She almost felt like a bartender while standing there, but she lacked the right uniform. Osaka had searched through the tables and found a strange red book. There was nothing interesting on the cover, and when she opened it, all the pages were blank. The only thing on it were some strange colours on the spine, like it was a segment of a full picture. It looked fishy enough, so she decided to take it with her. Meanwhile, Chiyo had her eyes on a strange green candle in a round glass bowl. She thought for a moment and suddenly ran back up the steps, towards the door.

"Oi, Chiyo-chan? Where are you going?" Kagura called after her.

"Don't worry, I'll be right back!"

Chiyo ran past the still bleeding spider and opened the red double door. She looked around but didn't see Tomo or Yomi anywhere. She did notice that the door on the left side was open so she peered inside.

"Ehm...Yomi-san? Tomo-chan?"

Yomi looked up from the shelf she was looking through and saw Chiyo standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Chiyo-chan. What's up? Find anything?"

Chiyo stepped in the dark room and smiled. "Maybe, but could I borrow your lighter please?"

Yomi nodded and reached into her pocket. "Sure."

"Thank." Chiyo smiled as she took the golden zippo from her hand. "I'll give it back later. We'll be back soon, so wait a bit more okay?" With that, she waved and ran off again.

"Are you sure it's fine to give a little kid fire?" Tomo grinned while sitting on the chest in the back of the room.

"It's a lot safer with her than it would be with you. You would end up burning the whole place down" was her reply.

Kagura was done cleaning herself up and climbed the stairs to the second floor balustrade. Besides the pin-up posters hanging on the wall and the dartboard, there was a large pool table in the middle and another strange candle standing on a table in the closest corner, but this one was orange instead of green. There were 7 balls on the pool table, 2 blue, 3 red, 4 purple, 5 orange, 6 green, the yellow striped 9 ball and the white ball. They were placed in such a manner that all the numbers were visible.

"Maybe they were playing a game but didn't finish, or maybe..." Kagura crossed her arms and glanced at the orange candle in the corner.

"Orange...5... Wait, I got it!"

Chiyo was back with the lighter in her hand and lighted the wick. The candle shone with a green light and beneath the bowl, there was a symbol of an eye with only two eyelashes. Chiyo didn't get it at all, but asked Sakaki to write it down anyway. Sakaki took an order book from the bar and drew the symbol and wrote the color next to it. Meanwhile, Kagura found some matches on the second floor and lighted the wick with it. In the orange colored light, a symbol of an eye with no eyelashes became visible. Kagura took a mental note of this and ran down the stairs again.

The girls regrouped and discussed their findings. Osaka had the red, unprinted book clenched in her arms and Sakaki was holding some bottles.

"So, about those candles. There was another one upstairs, an orange one, and don't call me on this one, but I think it's supposed to be some sort of secret code" said Kagura. "There was a pool table with several billiard balls on it, so I associated those balls with the candle, so orange is 5! Pretty good huh?" she grinned widely.

"Oh, so then this one here would be 6?" Osaka said in her usual tone.

"Yes" Kagura nodded.

"Was there a symbol on it?" Chiyo asked while writing down the details in the notebook.

"Yep, an eye!" was her answer.

"Eyelashes?"

"None."

"Okay then, we should look around the other side. There may be more candles there." Chiyo smiled.

Indeed there was. In the empty corner of the room next to the entrance was a table with a red candle. Chiyo ignited the wick, and like the others, a symbol of an eye appeared, with 3 eyelashes on the top and 1 on the bottom. The number associated with it would have to be 3. Chiyo took note of it and they were finally ready to move on.

The girls regrouped with Yomi and Tomo and now had only one way left to go. Through the hallway with the crack in the floor. But first, they decided to settle down for a bit and enjoy the drinks that Sakaki had taken with her. They entered the dark room and closed the door behind them.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that? With your stomach and all..." Yomi questioned while twisting the lid off a bottle of water.

Tomo grinned and flipped off the cap from the bottle of beer she was holding with her dagger. "Hehe, don't worry, I'm fine!" and with that, she pressed the neck against her lips and took a big gulp.

"Just make sure you don't get drunk. Last thing we need is a gibbering drunkard on our team." Yomi sighed, and poured the lukewarm water down her throath.

"Nah, I'm desinfecting my stomach, see?" she laughed and wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. "Hey, Chiyo-chan! Want one too?"

"No, thanks. I'm fine with this" she answered with a cola bottle in her hand.

"Anyway, Tomo-chan, there's some things we haven't told you yet" Yomi said, and reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled file. "Here, read this."

Tomo's eyes soared over the list and she took another sip. "Bio-organic weapons huh? So they were making these monsters down there?"

Kagura grabbed a bottle of beer and sat next to her on the chest. "That's not all. Read the fine print on the bottom."

Tomo squinted her eyes and made out the small text. She placed the bottle next to her and gawked in disbelief.

"Umbrella?"

"That's the same reaction as us when we found out" Kagura chuckled.

Sakaki sat against the wooden wall, reloading her trusty shotgun. She had used this thing more times then she wanted, but it saved her and her friends' life more than once, so she was at least grateful for that. She thought back about their encounter with Wesker. Although he did appear to be very friendly, there was something about him. Something strange, ominous even. Something told her that he wasn't to be trusted. But the dilemma was that he saved her, Chiyo's and Yomi's lives, so she didn't have a choice but to be thankful. She shook those thoughts off her; there were more pressing matters at hand now. She sighed deeply and took another drink from her cola bottle.

"So, what's with the book Osaka-san?" Chiyo asked.

"Oh this? There's nothing in it see?" she said while holding it open for her. "I took it with me because it looks fishy, but it won't fit in my pouch so..."

"So just leave it here. You can come back for it if we need it." The little girl advised.

Osaka nodded, and placed it on a round table with an antique typewriter on it. Curiously, she inspected the typewriter, but there was nothing written on the paper. She didn't know why, but she suddenly got a weird idea. She started typing away on the keys and wrote down the following.

_Ayumu K. /01/ Storage Room_

Osaka looked at the result with a grin and nodded positively.

"Ehm, what did you just do?" Kagura asked while raising an eyebrow.

Osaka just turned her head, smiled and said "I saved my progress!"

Next was a silence, and for a moment they were sure they could hear a cricket shirping in the distance.

"You did what?"

After another 5 minutes, break time was over and they had to get moving. They all climbed over the crates one by one to bypass the lurking tentacle in the hole in the floor, and went through the door in the back. They came across another hallway, with several windows viewing over the courtyard. Unlike the other one, this wasn't nearly as crude, and it seemed a bit more...civilized, like someone did live here once. It was relatively dark, the only things illuminating it here were an old lantarn next to the door and some moonlight shining in through the windows. One thing it had in common with the previous one, were the many spiderwebs on the ceiling and the thick layers of dust collected on the tables. After crossing a corner, there was another door on the right, next to a well working lamp. Unfortunately, it was locked. A problem that had been pestering them ever since they got themselves into this mess. Nothing else to do but continue down the hallway. The path made a crank shaped turn and there was yet another door, and a decayed and messed up corner all the way in the back. On the wall, a piece of paper, and around it, some shelves containing useless junk.

"Hey it's a map of this place!" Kagura cheered. "I guess no one will complain if I take it?"

Yomi shrugged. "Suit yourself, but you will take on duty of letting us know where we need to go next."

"I'll take that responsibility on me, thanks" Kagura said and took the map off the wall, only to find out there was a hole behind it. Curiously, she spied through the hole, and was eye to eye with an insect the size of her head. She yelped and stuck the paper back over the hole immediately.

"Haha, you know, on second thought, maybe we don't need this stupid piece of paper. It's not that complicated here" she laughed out loud and scratched the back of her head.

"What's behind the hole?" Tomo asked.

"It's...nothing, really!"

"What's behind the hole Kagura!" Yomi pushed on aggitated.

"Well, that's... maybe you're better off not knowing..." she muttered, but then saw Yomi's serious and annoyed face.

"Killer bees, big ones. Big as in this big." She held her hands about 15 centimeters from eachother.

Yomi gulped and agreed to leave the map where it is. So they went through the door that read 002 above it, and found a small bedroom. To the right of the entrance was a door that lead into a bathroom, and the bed was stained dark red. Sakaki entered the bathroom, and on the toilet, slumped over like an old dishrag, sat a corpse. She wanted to leave the room as soon as possible, but she couldn't, because on the dead body's lap was a small key. Quietly, she moved towards it, and with a shaking hand she reached for the key. She looked at the corpse's face, and saw no movement whatsoever. But she got this feeling deep in her gut that as soon as her hand would be close enough, it would lunge out and bite her in the arm. She hated being so close to the source of the rotted stench, so she held her breath and got it over with. She grabbed the key succesfully and legged it out of the room. She shut the door behind her and sighed in relief. She stared at the key now in her hand and the tag on it said "001".

"Hey, Sakaki-san! Are you coming?" she heard Chiyo's voice from behind the corner of the room.

Tomo and Kagura glanced down the iron ladder. They had to move 2 suspicious bookcases to reach it, so it must have been a secret. Good thing Osaka found it per chance or they would have never figured it out.

"Wanna know where this leads to?" Tomo smirked.

"Do you know?" answered Kagura.

"Nope, but I'm about to find out. C'mon!" Tomo didn't let the grass grow under her feet and descended down underground. The others knew how impulsive Tomo was, so they hesitated for a bit, but then decided to follow her down. What they found down there thwarted their imagination. A high and wide path with nothing but reinforced concrete around them. The walls were painted dark green from shoulder height to the floor, and above it was a long yellow and black striped line.

"Wow, this is something new..." Tomo mused. "Like we're in some kind of nuclear bunker!"

"Kind of, but not really. Look!" Yomi pointed to the large yellow words painted on the wall.

"Aqua Ring..." Sakaki murmured.

They marched on as every step echoued against the concrete walls until the found a locked steel door. Around the corner was a shabby wooden bridge over a gap filled with water. And around the next corner was something that made them all stop in their tracks.

"Oh, this is perfect!" Yomi muttered.

"What the..." Kagura gasped.

"It's flooded!" Osaka pointed out the obvious.

The hallway went slightly downhill to a large steel gate, but the whole area behind it was completely underwater, starting from in front of the gate. The good news was that the water at least looked clean.

"Oh no. We'll have to go through this. But keep your equipment dry okay? We don't want our guns to become useless" Yomi ordered.

Kagura took the first step in the water, but flinched at how cold it was. The others shared her pain though, as they stepped into the water going deeper and deeper and waded through the steel gate. There was an enormous, cylindrical room with a large tube in the middle. Because the water was relatively clear, they could see down to the bottom. In a circle around the whole room was a concrete pathway, going all the way around the room. The girls could walk over this to cross it, but the water came up their waist, making walking forward a hassle on its own. For Chiyo it was even harder, because for her, the water almost reached her chest.

"Now I see why they call this place the Aqua Ring" Tomo commented while holding her camcorder in front of her face as she held on to the metal railing to pull herself forwards.

Kagura forcefully pushed herself through the water with heavy steps and held her handgun and magnum above the surface. "Yeah, but I don't think this whole place is supposed to be flooded. Maybe the tube in the middle got broken."

Sakaki had the least trouble because she stook out above the water the most, held her shotgun across her shoulder with one hand, and held on to Chiyo's arm with the other.

"Ohh Why do I have be so short? I could drown while standing up here" Chiyo complained, her teeth clicking against eachother rapidly.

Osaka tried to pat herself warm and shivered like she was having a fever attack, but it was useless; the water was way too cold. "Brrrr, I'm going to catch a cold like this! What were they doing here anyway?"

Yomi took the lead and held her grenade launcher as high as possible. She felt the hairs on her arms stand on end and goosebumps were forming all over her body. "Don't you feel at home here Kagura-san? This is like a giant pool, it's perfect for you" she joked.

"Yeah, no. Even the water in the outside pool isn't as cold as this" she answered chuckling.

When they had made it about half-way, and sudden wave made everyone lose their ballance. They held on to either the wall or the railing to prevent themselves from falling down.

"Wh-what was that!?" Tomo yelled.

Yomi looked down in the water and saw a huge, long and dark shadow quickly moving at the bottom.

"There's something here! Everyone move as fast as possible!" she cried out.

When they got into second gear and waded through the wavy water as fast as they could, two sharp fins suddenly emerged from the water and closed in on them from each side.

"Sh...sharks!" Chiyo screamed.

Kagura looked through her terrified eyes as she saw one of the sharks coming straight towards her with a frightening velocity. Before she could act, the shark shot past Yomi's legs and gnawed at her ankles. In a reflex she raised her leg and the shark bumped into her other one, making her lose her ballance and topple over. Kagura fell face down in the water and the current created by the swimming shark dragged her underneath the railing.

Tomo stared in horror as she saw her friend being sucked into the deep end with the two sharks circling around her. "Kagura!" she yelled. Without thinking she opened fire on the two sharks, but because of their swiftness, she couldn't hit them in their critical point.

Kagura resurfaced and gasped for air as she flailed her arms around in panic. The icecold water pressed against her lungs and made it hard to breath, while she accidentally swallowed some of the water while gasping. She coughed and sputtered, and then swung her arms in a circular motion to propel herself back to the pathway. Tomo and Osaka were shooting at the sharks, while Sakaki was reaching her hand to her to pull her in.

"Kagura-san! Hurry! It's coming!" Yomi shouted in panic.

In this situation, Kagura was glad she was part of the school swim team. She would make it to Sakaki in no time. Kagura was indeed a very fast swimmer, but unfortunately, compared to a shark, she was a like a snail trying to cross a road. A gigantic mouth opened up right next to her, a row of countless sharp teeth and bared gums. Kagura screamed and tried to push herself out of the way, but the huge jaws clenched down on her. With another big splash, the shark dove down and took Kagura with him. Only a second later, it was out of sight. In the wrinkles left behind from the waves, a crimson red cloud diffused like a drop of paint in a glass of water.

For the next few seconds, the rest of the girls stood defeated and speechless. They couldn't register what had just happened to their friend, nor could they believe it. They just stared at the blood that was spreading until it was nearly invisible. Tomo tightened her fist over the railing and her emotions once again took over, a tear rolling over her cheek.

"Ka...Kagura... KAGURA!!!"

her cry of despair reverberated all over the room, and then, except for the constant sloshing of the water, there was only silence.

Yomi bit her teeth and shook her head with a shocked expression. A mixture of anger, sadness and fear took over. She simply couldn't believe it; one of her best friends just got killed and there wasn't a damn thing she could do, not a single damn thing. She just wanted to kick herself.

"That...that should have been me! That shark was about to hit me first...not Kagura. Goddammit!" she muttered.

Osaka was at a loss for words and was still staring at the faint red in the water. She didn't understand what just happened. Everything went so fast. Just a blink and she was gone.

"Kagura-san... What... what happened? Where did she go? Kagura-san, come back!"

Chiyo understood very well what happened and tears flowed down her face. Sakaki tried to comfort her, but that was futile because she felt broken inside herself.

"Curse them...curse them all! This whole damn place, curse it to Hell!" she rambled in her mind.

Kagura felt weak, very weak, but the unbearable pain in her leg kept her from passing out. She held on to the back of the shark's head to keep it from tearing her apart. The razorsharp teeth had sunken deep into her right leg, about 20 centimeters above her knee. She felt fortunate to have been able to move most of her body out of the way in time, or she would have been dead instantly. The problem she had is that she didn't manage to catch much breath before being dragged down underwater. Maybe screaming wasn't such a good idea to begin with. But she was a devoted swimmer! She couldn't die like this, unacceptable. As a last resort, she pulled out her dagger and stabbed the 20 foot shark, that looked like it escaped from the movie set of Jaws, in the eye with all her might. She twisted and turned the blade as the blood coming out of the wound mixed with hers. But she quickly felt her diaphragm twitching and urging to suck in the water that was all around her.

Tomo leaned against the railing with crossed arms and had her face buried in them. She knew there was no time to moarn here, because the two smaller sharks were going in for the attack again. Furiously, she opened fire on one of them.

"Take it you bastards! Taking Kagura away from me! I'll fucking murder every single one of you!" she growled loudly.

Yomi grabbed her by the shoulder. "Tomo-chan, we gotta go!"

Tomo angrily pushed her hand away. "No! I'm sick of running! I'm taking these bastards down, even if I have to go down with them!"

Yomi turned her around and slapped her in the face. "Listen to yourself! You can't possibly take all of them. Do you think Kagura would have wanted you to sacrifice yourself?! I know how you feel, but pull yourself together!"

Tomo rubbed her cheek and glanced down into the depths, only to see the mother shark swimming below, and in it's mouth...

"Kagura!" she suddenly yelled.

"What?!" Yomi leaned over the railing and saw Kagura stuck in the shark's mouth by the legs as she desperately tried to stab her way out.

Kagura just wished that thing would let go of her already. She couldn't hold her breath much longer, and the teeth stuck in her leg hurt like hell. She pulled out the dagger and forcefully drove it in again. The shark's eye was completely shredded, but it didn't give any sign of letting go. It's like it didn't even feel what she was doing to it. She was forced to exhale, and as a last tresshold to keep the water out, she clammed her trachea shut. Frantically, she took out the dagger again and stabbed it repeatedly wherever she could stab it.

"Let go you creep! Let go, let go, let go!"

The shark thrashed around wildly and spit Kagura out like a piece of chewing gum. Kagura was finally freed from the jaws after what seemed to be an eternity, but she was a few seconds too late.

She reached for her throat and flailed her arms around in a last attempt to make it to the surface. Just then, her diaphragm spasmed and she felt the sharp, burning pain of the cold water entering her lungs. Her eyes were wide open, and her mind was racing at 100 miles an hour.

"C...curses! Is this it? I'm a swimmer for God's sake, why do I have to die like this. This is...so ironic.."

Kagura closed her eyes while everything turned black in front of her.

"Tomo-chan, Yomi-san, Osaka-san, Sakaki-san, Chiyo-chan, hell, everyone... I'm sorry about this..."

All her senses slowly died out and her spirit drifted off, as her body slowly made its way up to the surface.

"Osaka, hold on to these!" Tomo ordered as she pushed her camera and her handgun in Osaka's hands.

"Wait, what are you doing?! Hey!" Yomi called after her, but Tomo had already dove into the cold water. She gave everything she had to swim towards Kagura's still body that was floating face down. With a few powerful strikes, she made it, grabbed Kagura by the arm and pulled her head out of the water.

"Kagura! Can you hear me? Come on girl, say something!"

Kagura didn't answer, but she did hear Yomi's voice calling out for her.

"Tomo-chan! Look out! There's one behind you!"

Tomo looked behind her and saw the deadly fin quickly gaining on her. She held Kagura around the waist with one arm and flung her other arm to push herself forth. Sakaki followed the smaller shark with her shotgun and busted some shells into its torso. The shark hopped in the air and twitched around violently, before floating belly up. Sakaki then reached out to Tomo's hand and pulled her in. Tomo climbed over the railing and dragged Kagura with her.

"No time to stall! The big one is coming our way!" Yomi yelled as Osaka and Chiyo were running behind her.

Yomi helped to support the motionless Kagura and Sakaki pulled herself towards the the door up the stairs. But it was locked, and on the tag it read "Control Room". Sakaki was glad she found the key from the scientist, but now it was just a matter of how fast she was. Anxiously, she searched her sidepacks and pulled it out. She quickly looked behind and saw the monstrous shark swimming towards them with a flowing motion from about 15 meters away. She pushed the key in and flipped it just in time to hear the growl coming from right behind her. She then kicked the door open and hurried everyone inside. Finally, she pulled the door shut behind her and saw the shark dive down just in time to avoid collision.

Tomo and Yomi gently layed Kagura down on the cold concrete floor. Her clothes completely soaked and water running out of her mouth and nose, she didn't give a single sign of life. The red light above the door shone down on her, and the drops of water seeping off her colored slightly red like some kind of ominous sign. Yomi held her hand in front of her nose and placed her other hand on her chest. All the others stood around her in a nerve crumpling tension.

"She...she's not breathing!"

* * *

Wata : So there you have it. One of the chapters I've been plotting since the beginning. My apologies, but the next one is probably gonna have to wait a little longer because of *cough* final exams. Sucks to be ending on such a cliffhanger huh? Sorry ^^'. But maybe I will squeeze in some work on it between studying, and maybe, just maybe, it will be done sooner. Thank you all for reading so far, really, thanks! And reviews are still more than welcome!

Tomo & Kagura : son...of...a...B*TCH!


	15. Carcharodon carcharias

_Chapter 15, finally done!_

_Sorry for the long wait, but I at least left some other things to masticate upon in the meantime._

_If you don't know what the title means, google it. It makes sense._

_I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil._

_Read and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 15 : Carcharodon carcharias

"One two three four one two three four"

Yomi tried to stay as calm as possible as she pressed down on Kagura's chest with rythmic shocks with both hands on top of eachother. "one two three four, come on Kagura, breathe!"

Kagura layed down completely still with her eyes closed and mouth half open, only slightly moving everytime Yomi pounded down on her chest.

"Come on, come on! Don't go dyin' on me!"

Tomo was pressing down on the awful looking wounds on her leg with a piece of bandage from the first-aid kit. With every shock, she could feel the warm blood gushing out of the gashes, soaking the bandage completely red. Sakaki, Osaka and Chiyo were standing at the sidelines, spectating in fear and shock.

"Come on Kagura..." Sakaki softly whispered.

Yomi took her hands off Kagura's chest and opened her mouth with one hand and pinched her nose shut with the other. Next, she placed her mouth over her lips and started breathing deeply, in and out. Every time she blew her own air into her lungs, her chest slightly moved up, but no matter how hard she tried, the water would not come out.

Tomo looked down to the shallow red pool slowly forming in front of her. She felt sick, very sick. The water she swallowed didn't do her stomach any good, and the image of her friend's condition made it even worse. Tomo did her best to stay strong so far, but she simply couldn't hold it in anymore.

"S-Sakaki-san, take...take over real quick please!" she stammered.

Sakaki ran up to her, placed her hands over the bandages and applied pressure, while Tomo placed her blood stained hand over her mouth and ran up to the nearest corner of the concrete room. She gulped a few times, then gagged and supported herself against the wall and the iron railing. The content of her stomach, consisting mostly of water, bile and some traces of alcohol, was forced out with painful, spasmic contractions. Once again, she vomited all over the floor while a tear rolled down her face, giving up all hope for one of her best friends.

Yomi went back to applying CPR since the mouth-to-mouth breathing didn't help. Frantically, she used more and more force, trying to make Kagura breathe automatically again.

"It's gonna be fine! All you have to do is breathe again. It's not your time yet, you're gonna make it, just breathe!" she rambled softly with tears running down her face.

"I...it's over Yomi... We were too late... She's gone..." Tomo sputtered and sobbed from the corner, still leaning against the wall. "If only we...could have saved her..." she muttered. "Poor Kagura..."

Suddenly, Yomi stopped, her shaking, unstable hands still placed on her chest. Her face turned somewhere between sorrowful and agry and she bit her lower lip until it nearly started bleeding.

"No...no that can't be! It's not too late, she only has to breathe! C'mon Kagura, please breathe!"

She clenched her fists in frustration and anger and raised them above her head.

"BREATHE DAMN YOU!!!"

With that, she pounded down on her chest with her fists with all her might.

Kagura had seen the light, and had heard her deceased relatives calling out her name as her spirit drifted off through some sort of obscured tunnel to what she made out as the afterlife. She felt calm, soothed, happy and sad all at the same time. The last shards of memory she had were the bubbles racing to the surface of the water and the razor sharp teeth tearing at her leg. But here, she felt no pain, no trace of actually being dead. Despite that, she was sure. She didn't make it. She left her friends behind in that terrible nightmare when they needed her the most, and for that, she felt guilty.

"I can only hope...that you guys make it, that I don't see any of you here too soon. I'm sorry..."

She reached her hand in front of her eyes, whitened by the fierce white light in front of her which she didn't know where it came from. Heaven perhaps, she thought, I must be on my way to heaven. Her mouth curved to a smile and she closed her eyes. Suddenly, the strong light dimmed and a voice called her by her name. Her eyes shot open as she felt herself being pulled down and before she even knew it, a sharp pain in her leg and chest.

Kagura's body shook all over and another gush of blood came out of her wound. Her diaphragm contracted abruptly, and the water in her lungs ejected out of her mouth and nose like a small fountain. Afterwards, a loud gasp of panic, and several violent coughs. Water sputtered out of her mouth and ran down her nose, as her body twitched and her lungs frantically sucked in the humid air. Next, she felt her head being supported by cold and shaky arms. Hesitantly, she slowly opened her eyes.

Yomi looked down to her with a hopeful and relieved smile, and she couldn't help but emit a small laugh. She held her head up by the back of her neck and gently brushed the back of her hand against her cold cheek. Kagura's glassy eyes slowly opened, and her expression was one of confusion. She didn't say a single word, but looked up to Yomi instead. Next, her mouth slightly moved and tried to form words.

"Wh... Wha..." was the only thing she could utter for now, and weakly at that.

Yomi shook her head and placed her finger on her lips. "Don't worry about that. You're gonna be okay!"

Tomo stood frozen in the corner of the room, the sour smell of the vomit creeping up her nostrils. For several seconds, she couldn't believe what she had heard. Kagura...was still alive! Silently, she turned around and saw Kagura's eyes half open, her chest gently moving up and down like it should. She gawked at this sight in disbelief, and her eyes once again started to water. "K...Kagura..."

Sakaki was still pressing down on her 'rival's' wound, but she let out a sight of relief when she saw her waking up, and also because she could no longer feel the shocking gushing on her hands. She only felt small, steady throbs, which means that her main artery wasn't cut, or else she could still bleed to death. She smiled and a spur of hope took her over. Osaka and Chiyo were kneeling down next to Kagura, both with a smile on their face and tears in their eyes.

"Thank God Kagura-san" Chiyo sobbed. "We thought you were dead!"

Kagura slowly turned her head at her. "I...I think I was... I saw...Heaven, I think" she said weakly, with a cold shiver running over her skin. Her attention was suddenly grabbed by a voice coming from the back of the room.

"Kagura!"

Kagura saw Tomo just standing there, tears constantly flowing down her cheeks like waterfalls and her chin trembling as she seemed to be forcing her mouth shut. She stumbled towards her with shaking legs, her pace getting faster and faster.

"Kagura...Kagura!"

She almost literally fell down on her and embraced her by the neck, sobbing and softly whispering.

"I...I'm so happy you're alive..."

Kagura didn't really know what to do now. The pain in her leg was pretty much unbearable and her lungs still hurt, but despite all that, she smiled and slowly returned the hug.

"Sorry for worrying you..."

Tomo sat straight and wiped her tears away with her arm. Her usual smile returned to her face. "I could kiss you, you bitch..."

Kagura couldn't help but laugh, same for the others.

Yomi examined the nasty looking wound on her right leg. More like wounds. The gashes seemed pretty deep, and matter how she looked like it, they were going to leave some bad scars. She didn't have a choice, she was going to have to stitch them, even though she didn't really know how to.

"Kagura-san, this may sound painful, but I'm going to have to stitch that" she announced.

Kagura rolled her eyes. "As if it could hurt more than it already does."

"I know. I just felt like I had to warn you. I could bring you under narcosis, but..."

"But what?"

"I'm not a doctor. I don't know how much I should give you. Besides, it could go wrong altogether."

Kagura simply nodded. "I understand. Just do it like this..."

Yomi took a piece of cotton and drenched it with desinfecting alcohol. "Let's not waste any time here. I'll take care of Kagura. Tomo, Osaka and Sakaki, you go and investigate down there" she pointed towards the ladder leading down. The three just nodded and were on their way, but not before telling Kagura to stay strong.

"Chiyo-chan, you stay here, I'll need your assistance."

Chiyo simply replied with "okay."

Yomi dipped the drenched cotton against the wound, but right at that moment, Kagura trashed and hissed in pain.

"Auwch!" she exlaimed. "You know what? That really freakin' hurts!"

Yomi had already pulled back and gave her a questioning look.

"Whatever, just shoot me up" she said.

"Are you sure?"

Kagura chuckled and raised her head. "Yeah, go ahead. Whatever takes the pain away."

Yomi sighed and reached for the small bottle that was in Sakaki's first-aid kit next to the needles. It read 'Morphine', and the instructions said to inject intravenous. She found a sterile syringe in a small white plastic bag and took it out.

"Okay, but I'm only giving you a little bit. I'm not taking any other risks here."

She took a clean piece of bandage, wrapped it around Kagura's arm and tightened it. Next, she pulled the substance into the syringe, pushed out the air, flicked it with her finger and buried the needle in her bulging artery.

Meanwhile, Tomo, Osaka and Sakaki had made it down the rusty steel ladder. They were now in a room with 2 large thick glass screens with a view inside the water tank. The remaining smaller shark and the large one soared by the windows ominously, almost as if they were watching their every move. The girls didn't really have the guts to get too close to the glass, but they spectated the 2 bloodthirsty fish like they were paying a visit to Seaworld.

"Wow, that one sure is big huh?" said Osaka.

Around them were 3 different control panels, one in front of each window, and one against the wall. The one in front of them was a lever for a pressure shelter, the one to their right was a panel for drainage, and the one behind them appeared to be a safety device for the pressure shelter.

"Check it out! We can drain the water with this. That's perfect!" Tomo cheered. "I can make those bastards pay for what they did to Kagura..."

Above them, the operation was going relatively smooth. Yomi was relieved that stitching wasn't as hard as she always believed. She had already succesfully sealed one of the gashes, a little bit sloppy, but good enough, and she was taking her time to sew the next one shut. Meanwhile, Chiyo kept an eye, or rather a finger, on Kagura's pulse. It was steady, a bit slow, but powerful enough. There was nothing to worry about. Kagura herself felt amazing. Her head felt incredibly light, and she felt like she was floating. She didn't feel any pain anymore whatsoever, and instead, she was happy and buoyant. Chiyo couldn't help but giggle a bit, because she was laying with her eyes closed and with a dopey smile on her face, much like Osaka's when she's spacing out.

"How're you holding up Kagura?" Yomi suddenly asked, but there was no answer.

"Ehm...Kagura?"

"H...huh? Did you...say something?" she replied with a lazy voice.

"I said, how are you holding up."

"Oooooohhhh... You have no idea...how amazing this feels..." she chuckled. "Like I'm...floating on cloud nine... Oh, a flying fish! I'm gonna catch it!"

"Oh dear. She's completely wasted!" Yomi sighed with a smile.

"Heheheheheheh, noooooo I'm not!" Kagura laughed.

Back in the underwater control room, Tomo was trying to figure out the draining device in front of her. She was constantly scratching her head.

"Oh man! I don't get this thing at all!" she wailed. "The display says there was an error, but I can't figure out how to continue the drainage."

"Well, maybe there's a manual or something on that table over there" Osaka spoke up.

Sakaki was way ahead of them. She found some instructions scattered over the table on the other side of the control panels. One of them said something about oil pressure control and opening valve number 2. She finally found the instructions for drainage, so she took it and marched up to the panel. She tapped some of the keys on it, until the error message disappeared and the system was ready.

"Good going Sakaki-san" Tomo cheered. "Now, let's get that water out of here!"

Sakaki nodded and was about to press the switch, when she saw a dark silhouette storming towards her from behind the glass. The smaller shark bashed into the glass with a loud crash, cracking it and making some small shards fly straight at them.

"Oh shit!"

Sakaki took a few quick steps back, as the shark backed off again, getting ready for the next tackle. Just then, a loud and annoying alarm went off, and an automatic female voice filled the room.

"Emergency! Emergency! Unknown force of pressure detected! Locking all doors to achieve maximum safety!"

Tomo immediately started panicking. "Safety?! My ass!!! They're trapping us! who the hell designed this place?!"

"Hey! What on earth is going on!?" Yomi's voice sounded from up above.

"Don't worry! We'll take care of it!" Tomo shouted back.

Osaka didn't hesitate and ran up to the lever for the pressure shelter. She placed both hands on it and pulled the rigid lever down with all her might. The shelter moved down, but stopped halfway! On the display, a message appeared in bright red letters. "Oil pressure lost : Shelter operation terminated."

"Reaching 30% of pressure tresshold!"

Sakaki's heart started beating faster and faster, but she knew what she had to do. She just had to find the oil valves and turn the second one. But where were they?! She looked around but didn't see anything that resembled valves. She looked behind through the doorway, and it lead to another concrete hallway. She ran out of the room, and just when she did, the shark once again crashed into the window. It was now slowly starting to cave in, and small streams of water seeped out. Tomo and Osaka were now seriously losing their nerve. That screen looked like it could collapse at any second now.

"Reaching 50% of pressure tresshold!"

Luckily, Sakaki found the valves to her left in the hallway. She placed her hands on the middle one and turned it as hard as she could.

"Osaka-san, try again!" she shouted.

Osaka placed both hands on the lever again and attempted to push it down, but it wouldn't budge.

"It doesn't work! It's blocked!" she yelled. "Someone release the safety or something!"

Tomo dashed towards the device against the wall and looked over the keys. "Okay Tomo, stay calm. It can't be that hard..."

"Reaching 70% of pressure tresshold! Code Red, repeat, Code Red! Activate pressure shelter immediately!"

"I know! Shut up!" Tomo shouted.

Meanwhile, back up the ladder, Yomi was still trying to stay calm and close the wounds on Kagura's leg. She looked up to see Chiyo's troubled face, as the red light above the door rotated and flashed the light all over the place. The sounding alarm didn't help at all either.

"I hope they take care of this, whatever the hell is going on down there..."

Kagura however, wasn't really aware of the imminent danger. Although she was still somewhat semi-conscious, she was way too far away already to realize what was going on.

"Is it this one? No, dammit! Which one is it!" Tomo was at the mercy of the machine and was pressing the buttons as if she was doing 'eeny meeny miny moe'.

"Hurry up Tomo-chan!" Osaka yelled.

"Okay, I think I got it. This should do the trick."

She pressed the enter button and after a click, the safety was finally released. Osaka heard this and pressed down on the lever with all her might. To her frustration, the shelter indeed went down, but the one that covered the window that was still unscathed first. To make matters worse, the shark could be seen, once again swimming towards the cracked window with lightning speed, probably for the last time.

"Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!" Tomo cussed. "Hurry up you stupid thing!"

The shelter finally moved down, but way too slow to the girls' liking. One final roomshaking crash, right after the shelter covered up the crack. Water ran down the metal plate, before it sealed up the window completely.

The alarm died off a little, and the warnings stopped sounding. Tomo leaned against the panel and held her chest.

"Whoa, again, way too close! This can't be good for my ticker!"

"Yeah... Say, Tomo-chan. Did Sakaki-san just cuss?" said Osaka.

Tomo slided to the floor defeated. "You know, sometimes, just sometimes, you worry even me Osaka."

Osaka gave her a puzzled look. "But it's true! Sakaki-san said the S-word!"

"Yeah. So?"

"I've never heard her say that before."

Tomo sighed deeply. "When stuff like this happens, people sometimes can't control what they say. It just comes out as an impulse. I said the S-word like 6 times in a row or something, what's the big deal!"

"Well, I'm used to it from you" was Osaka's answer, to which Tomo sighed again.

Sakaki, who overheard the conversation from the hallway, held her hand in front of her mouth. "Did I really say that?"

Without further ado, they activated the draining system, before anything else unexpected could happen. Meanwhile, Yomi had to turn Kagura on her belly to stitch the wounds on the back of her leg. There were only two gashes here, and they weren't as deep as the one on top. Then she noticed that Kagura hadn't said a single word for quite a while, and she was peaceful, maybe a bit too peaceful.

"Chiyo-chan, how's her pulse?" she asked.

Chiyo felt at the artery on her neck. "Slow, but good enough I think."

"Hey, Kagura, can you still hear me?"

She didn't answer however, and because of this, Yomi and Chiyo slightly started panicking.

"She didn't fall into a coma did she? Hey! Kagura!"

She grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her around, hoping for a reaction of some sort. Kagura did react this time, and mumbled something about not wanting to go to school and that it was still way too early to get up. Yomi let out a big sigh of relief.

"She's asleep... And deeply at that. Man, I thought I was gonna get a heart attack!"

Just then, Tomo's head popped up from the ladder without a warning, almost giving Yomi what she mentioned.

"Hiya! How's it going here!" she chanted.

"Argh! Dammit Tomo, don't sneak up on us like that! What the hell was going on down there?!" Yomi snarled.

Tomo held her arms around the handles of the ladder and rested her chin on her arms, while her foot was gently kicking the bars. "Ah, stupid shark wanted to invite itself in, but we took care of it, no worries. How's our busty companion doing?"

"Sleeping like a rose. She must be all the way up to seventh heaven by now" Yomi chuckled. "That was very brave what you did back there Tomo-chan. Kagura owes her life to you, but she just doesn't know it yet."

Tomo shut her eyes, and for a moment, she could swear that she was actually blushing. "Well, make sure you tell her when she decides to wake up" she joked. "But, after all, it was you who brought her back in the end. So I guess I'm not walking away with all the credit today" she finished with a shrug.

"Today? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. By the way, all the water out there is gone, so it should be safe to go out now. The three of us are gonna check out the bottom of the Ring, maybe find Kagura's guns back."

Yomi nodded. "Okay. When we're ready here, we'll be going back the way we came. Kagura is in no state at all to be climbing too many ladders. Try to find a way back up, and we'll meet up in the entrance hallway. Will that do?"

Tomo smiled widely and made an 'aye-aye captain' sign. "Sure! We'll be going now, wish us luck! Oh, and FYI, Kagura's drooling!" she laughed, and slided back down the ladder.

"...knucklehead..." Yomi and Chiyo sighed in unison. And Kagura indeed had a small drop running down the corner of her mouth.

The wildcat, the space cadet and the lone wolf moved through the submarine-like pressure door at the end of the hallway. As soon as Tomo entered the drowned room, she was pelleted by thick drops of water falling off the rusted pipes and the ceiling above her. The whole floor was like one big, shallow puddle, water splashing up with every step they took. To their left, and large fence-like gate, and to their right, many boxes. All content of the boxes, which was mostly dynamite, was soaked beyond use however. On the opposite side of the drowned explosives was another door, a big, heavy and sturdy one. They decided to go through this one first, and it lead them to the bottom of the Aqua Ring, right below the concrete walkway. Just like the previous room, it was completely soaked, and water seeped off everywhere they could look. In the middle was the cylindrical tank, with a large hole somewhere near the middle. Various ribbed tubes ran along the walls and the tank, and to the walls were destroyed desks and computers. Osaka quickly found the 2 guns laying in a puddle, not too far away from eachother. She picked them up with two fingers, letting them drip out.

"Kagura's guns. They're completely soaked."

Sakaki marched up and took the magnum from her hands. She opened up the cylinder and took out the bullets, one of them being an empty shell.

"We should let them dry, maybe we can still use them."

Tomo was pointing her camera all over the room, shooting footage of the water seeping down and the broken equipment. She walked past the corpse of the smaller shark that Sakaki took care of and the one that was still alive. It was flailing up and down in panic. Tomo knew that it was no longer a threat, but decided to put it out of its misery. But not before taunting it and kicking it a few times.

"Haha! Look at you! Not so tough now huh? Mister biological weapon!" she chirped, and kicked it a few more times. She aimed the camera down and zoomed in onto its face. "Smile! You're caught on camera!" she chanted. The shark responded by bending towards her and gnawing at her shins.

"Whaaa!"

Tomo took a step back startled, but then started giggling nervously.

"Hehe, too bad you can't move. But I have a little gift for you. It's on Kagura's behalf."

She pulled out her gun and aimed it to the Neptune's head. "Enjoy!"

She squeezed the trigger and blasted a bullet through its head, splattering the blood into the puddles of water. The shark twitched a bit more, before it stopped moving completely. Tomo then moved to the back of the Ring.

"Heh, sucker..." she murmured while smirking.

When she made it to the back, she halted at what was now right in front of her. She blinked a few times in amazement, then called out for her friends that were still behind.

"Hey, guys! Come check this out!"

Osaka and Sakaki caught up with her and stood still before what was in front of them. There it was. The gargantuan that was hunting them, now laying motionless in a deeper part of the Ring with water still in the ditch. Behind the shark was a steel platform with a panel and a small cabinet.

"I'm going to jump on Kagura's wagon here and say I have a very bad feeling about this..." Tomo announced.

"Is it dead?" asked Osaka.

"I doubt that. A shark is fish right? And it needs water to survive huh?"

Osaka nodded, still following.

"So, it's still in water, so it's probably still alive" Tomo reasoned.

"So, who's going on that platform?" Sakaki spoke up.

They noticed that the shark's mouth was faced towards the platform, and dangerously close at that. Sakaki got an idea and agreed to go alone. The only things she had to do was get past the behemoth without getting eaten.

With a throbbing heart, she stepped into the water, walked past the long, cold body and climbed up the steel platform. The shark still wasn't budging, maybe she could get out of this without any problems. She examined the inside of the cabinet, while still keeping an eye on the Great White that was grinning right in front of her. She found another key, one with 'Gallery' written on it. She gave a thumbs up to Tomo and Osaka who were standing in front of the ditch, and put the key in her pocket.

But then, the gigantic shark started trashing its body around without a warning, mouth wide open and traces of blood on its teeth. Sakaki stumbled back startled as the shark bashed into the platform, shaking it around wildly and making the rusted bolts break. The steel structure gave an unsettling squeak, and slowly started to slope down, right towards the giant gaping mouth. Sakaki held on the the railing and made sure not to drop her shotgun, and kicked the snout that was squirming its way towards her. Just one slip, and she could be turned into lunch.

"No! Sakaki-san!" Tomo yelled, and both she and Osaka started shooting like mad.

Sakaki had to act quick, and if this plan failed, it would be all over for her. She kicked the panel standing on the edge, trying to make it land into the water without damaging it too much. But the shark that was pushing from the other side was in the way. After another bash, the pole supporting the cabinet broke and started falling down, but the wrong way. Before she was able to block it, the cabinet fell right on her, making her lose her grip on the railing. She slided down a few inches, but fortunately was able to lock her hand in the grated floor. A short crackle and a sharp pain jolted through her fingers, and her feet rested on the panel. Sakaki bit her lip and reached for the railing again. While doing this, she pressed down on the panel, until it finally shot loose and landed right in the Neptune's mouth. The teeth tore into the steel like it was nothing, and wires snapped creating small sparkles. Next, Sakaki gently moved to the left, climbing the railing like monkeybars, and reached for the lever.

"Come on, just a little more!" she muttered.

With a shaking hand and painful fingers, she desperately stretched her arm as far as she could. The platform was now almost completely vertical, and with one more bash, every attachment came loose. Sakaki nearly jumped towards the lever and pulled it. A sound of short circuit came from the shark's mouth, and as a reflex from the pain, it spit out the device, knocking it against the platform, and eventually falling into the water. The water started boiling, smoke rose from the surface, and the body of the shark twitched, shocked and convulsed wildly. With no more footing, Sakaki held on to the railing with one hand, as she watched the large predator getting fried right below her. A few seconds later, the fuse right next to her blew, and the water turned silent again. Sakaki sighed in relief, but then, the loose platform croaked and started toppling over.

"Uh oh!"

With a short yelp, Sakaki tumbled into the water, the platform following her on her way down. Osaka and Tomo ran to her aid, pulling her from below the platform that fortunately was held back by the body of the shark.

"Are you okay Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki stood straight and spit out the water that made it into her mouth. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Tomo looked at the still twitching and smoking body. The smell of it was surprisingly good, except for the hint of burnt urea.

"Anyone in for shark-fin soup?"

"Stop it! I'm hungry enough already!" said Osaka.

Back on the upper floor, Yomi was completely done with the operation. All wounds had been desinfected, stitched and wrapped with a bandage. Now they only had to wait until Kagura woke up. Yomi and Chiyo sat against the wall, looking at the time.

"4:34 AM. We've been stuck here for more than 3 hours now..." Yomi sighed.

Chiyo fumbled around with her ponytails out of boredom and worry. "I wonder if the others are okay..."

Yomi stood up and figured it was about time to wake up Kagura, who was still enjoying her stay in dreamland. She grabbed her by the shoulder and gently shook her around.

"Hey, Kagura-san. Time to wake up."

Kagura just grunted a bit and closed her mouth.

"...breakfast is ready!"

Amazingly, this simple comment worked on her. Her eyes flung open and started looking around.

"Breakfast? Where?"

"Hehe, sorry, no breakfast. But I had to wake you up somehow" Yomi smiled. "But there are a couple of dead sharks outside."

"Oh, hi Yomi... Is it over already? And no thanks, I'm not really a fan of shark related food" she laughed meekly.

"Glad to see you still have your sense of humour. But we have to go now. The others will be waiting at the entrance. How are you feeling?"

Kagura blinked her eyes a few times and rubbed them with her fingers. "Ugh, still pretty groggy, but I guess I'm alright. Feels good to be honest."

"I'm sure it does. Come on, let's get going."

Yomi swung Kagura's arm around her neck and pulled her up. Chiyo then opened the door to reveal the Aqua Ring minus the aqua. Kagura limped over the wet and slippery concrete. Wether it was because of the condition of her leg or from the anestatics, she couldn't tell. What she did know is that she didn't really feel much pain, and her head was still light as a feather. She also felt a slight headache creeping up, but didn't care much about that.

Meanwhile, the others had found a ladder leading up on the other side of the steel gate. Up there was a door, and after unlocking it, it lead back to the entrance hallway. Just where they needed to be, but Yomi, Kagura and Chiyo weren't there yet. Tomo looked around the corner, but they were not in sight yet.

"Phew, glad we're out of there! Let's just hope the others make it here soon."

Tomo let the empty clip fall from her Beretta and pushed in a new one. To her dismay, there weren't that many left. Only 3, and it didn't look like they were out of there yet.

"Damn, where's Wesker when you need him? I'm running out of ammo!"

"Me too" Osaka added. "Only 4 left."

Sakaki scurried through her sidepack and counted the remaining shells. "15 left, and about 3 in the gun."

"Well, I guess with everything combined, it should be enough..." Tomo mused.

Only about a minute later, the gate at the end of the hallway could be heard opening. Tomo ran across the corner, and saw Chiyo running up to her, with Kagura being supported by Yomi close behind.

"Ah, there you are!"

"Good to see you made it. How did it go?" Chiyo asked.

"Well, you know, big shark, zapped, fried. Oh and Sakaki-san found a key. How's Kagura doing?"

Kagura responded herself with a thumbs up. "Never been better."

"She's still seeing all colours of the rainbow I bet" Yomi laughed. "Come on, let's skedaddle!"

The next problem was getting Kagura back up the ladder and into the residence. The best solution was that someone carried her on her back, but that someone would have to be strong enough to heave her weight all the way up. Who else would be more suited than Sakaki? Of course, she compromised, and let Kagura hang on to her as they made their way back up. They let her go first, in case something would happen, they would be able to catch her. Sakaki made it up without too many problems, and signalled the others to come on up.

"Ehm, Sakaki-san?" Kagura muttered drowsily.

"Yeah?"

"Zombie, at seven O'clock..."

* * *

Wata : Finally huh? Exams are over by now, but don't ask how they went XD. Sorry to keep you hanging for so long. I have been working on it for a long time though, so I'm happy that it's finally done. Sure was difficult though, despite being smaller than some of the previous ones. Okay, be honest, at the "I could kiss you, you bitch" scene, how many people were going : Do it! Do it! If I was an outside reader, I know I would have. There's a blatant reference to the RE movie right there.

Also, I noticed that some of you have already found my newest project 'Hotter Than Hell'. I will be updating these two regularly, so I'm not forgetting about either of them. I also want to bring up an error that Tantrix187 noticed in this story. The language problem. Even though they are from Japan, and Tomo, Kagura and probably Osaka are no good at English, they still have no problem reading, understanding and speaking it. This is, of course, not right. It's an error I noticed too, but a little bit too late. I might do something about this, but not now, I'm continuing the story as usual.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review!

Kagura : Woohoo, I'm still alive!!! Wait, what was that about that scene?

Tomo : Yeah, seriously...

Wata : Aahhhh, hehehe...

Tomo & Kagura : You don't mean...!


	16. Vines

_Chapter 16, you've been waiting for this!_

_Finally, after a delay, I present you with this next installment in my ever growing fic._

_In this chap, There will be a lot of jumping between characters, so in order to avoid confusion, I have incorporated the "--" marks._

_R&R, and make sure to check out the author's notes when you're done reading!_

* * *

Chapter 16 : Vines

Sakaki turned around to see the first ghoul in quite a while stumbling from around the corner. It was the same one she saw in the bathroom earlier that she stole the key from. But she shut the door behind her when she left, leading her to believe that these zombies are intelligent enough to open doors and to operate simple mechanisms. She aimed her shotgun at the corpse, ready to blast it back into oblivion.

"Cover your ears Kagura-san"

Kagura nodded weakly and placed her hands over her ears. But when Sakaki pulled the trigger, nothing happened, except for a faint bubbling sound. No matter how many times she tried, the shells did not go off. She quickly opened her gun and pulled the shell out. Judging by the water pouring out of the opening, she quickly concluded that her ammunition was now temporarily useless.

"Damn..."

Having no other option, she held the gun by the barrel like a club and stormed towards the rotting demon. With full force, she smacked the undead on the head with the handle. A crack, a groan, and the mutant fell to the floor. Sakaki kept batting down until she was sure it wouldn't get back up again. Blow after blow, the zombie's face crunched and contorted, until it was completely unrecognisable. Blood dripped off the blunt end of the Winchester, and Sakaki panted heavily, looking down on what was left of the monster's facial features. She had gotten used to the stench, the gore and the self preservation violence, but that's what worried her. Because of this cursed night, she and her friends' lives could never be the same. She didn't even want to think about the horrible secret they stumbled upon. When they would get out of there, they couldn't just walk away and pretend like nothing happened. Also, how on earth were they going to explain this to the authorities, or their parents...

With all the effort in the world, Tomo dragged herself up the ladder. When she made it up, she let herself drop on the soft, dusty carpet.

"Oh...oh man, I don't think I've ever been this tired in my whole life... Are we getting closer to the exit or what?"

"Coming through Tomo-chan! " said Yomi as she pushed herself up. She then reached down and gave Chiyo a hand. Osaka was last, following very close behind.

"Phew, Tomo-chan is right... I need a bed, and maybe a nice warm shower..." she complained.

"A good meal would be welcome too! It seems like ages since I last ate something"

"Be quiet you two, I think I hear something..." Yomi whispered.

Everyone quickly held their breath to listen to their suroundings. A faint, hollow creaking sound, seemingly coming from somewhere underneath the wooden floor. Before they could even ask themselves what was going on, the floor started shaking, and the planks right in front of them bulged upwards. The girls took a step back and readied their weapons, as the shaking became more violent and relentless.

"What the...?"

The planks splintered and flew all over the room, and a large, darkgreen vine bursted from the space beneath the floor. It stretched out first, then wiggled around, searching for a prey, and it didn't take long at all until it found one.

"Look out!" Yomi yelled, but just a second too late.

The tentacle lashed out, flung right beside Tomo, barely missed Osaka, whirled itself around Chiyo's waist like a boa constrictor and lifted her up. Chiyo screamed and tried to free herself from the clutches of the plant, but was knocked unconscious when the vine smacked her against the wall.

"Chiyo-chan!"

Sakaki wanted to help her, but it dissapeared back under the floor when she took her first step, dragging the motionless Chiyo along. Everyone ran up to the large hole the thing created. Calling her name was pointless; their voices only echoed against the underground walls, with no response whatsoever. Sakaki clenched her fist in anger and frustration. How could she let something like that happen?! She promised she would protect her, but she failed yet again. Her anger transcended when she saw blood on the edge of the splintered wood, probably when Chiyo scratched her arm while being pulled down. Without a warning, and against everyone's expectations, she yelled into the gaping hole loudly.

"You'd better not hurt her, you hear me!? You'll be sorry!"

Sakaki dashed towards the door and stormed into the hallway, leaving all the others behind baffled. Yomi stood up and followed her out. Tomo glanced into the hole once more.

"Shit... Come on guys!"

Tomo and Osaka ran out the door, and Kagura followed behind, wobbling like a drunk penguin.

"H...hey guys! Wait for me!"

Sakaki pumped some new shells into her shotgun and used the gallery key on the locked door in the corridor. She forced the door open, revealing a large room with a solid table in the middle. On the table were some spinwheels and other antique devices, and several more items on display on the walls, behind glass windows. In the back were two doors, one with the numbers 003 above it, and a double door at the end of a small section of hallway. When walking in, she saw another door to her left behind the corner with a numeral pad beside it. She stopped in her tracks when she heard a buzzing noise coming from somewhere deeper into the room. In the back left corner of the room was another corridor. She suddenly remembered. The bees Kagura saw through the hole before, they must be in this room. She realised that this room wasn't safe, and motioned back out.

"Sakaki-san! Get back here! Don't do anything stupid!" she heard Yomi calling out for her.

Sakaki re-entered the hallway and shut the door behind her. "I...I'm sorry, I guess I just lost it for a moment..."

"That's okay. Listen, we have to find out where that thing came from before we can look for Chiyo-chan. There's a chance that she's still trapped underneath the floor, but we can't go down there before that thing is dead" Yomi reasoned.

Sakaki stared down to the floor with a sad expression. "Wh...what if she's...already..."

"Hey, we shouldn't be thinking that. We'll find her, alive, I promise."

--

Chiyo woke up to be surrounded by darkness. Wherever she was, it was immensly hot there, and her arms and legs were obstructed. She felt a warm liquid running down her face and arm, and a slimy, sticky substance all over her body. She frantically gasped for air that was very hard to come by in the scalding claustrophobic space. Sweat mixed with whatever her body was covered with, and although she tried, she couldn't make a single sound. She was shook up by something that was clearly alive, slithering over her frail posture, dripping with a cold, syrupy fluid that sent shivers down her spine. Her mind was completely blank, and she hopelessly tried to scream. What was first holding on to her arms was now wrapping around her throat, squeezing tightly, suffocating her. She emitted a silent scream, and her consciousness once again slipped away.

--

Sakaki warned everyone about the killer bees inside the gallery, and she told them that she still had one key left. They hurried back to the previous T-shaped hallway. There was the locked door with the number 001 above it. Sakaki wasted no time, unlocked the door with the key and opened it. She was shocked to see what was inside it. A man, dangling from the ceiling by the neck, clearly dead for quite some time. What made it even more creepy was that he had already mutated into a zombie, so it was squirming wildly and groaning aggressively. The rope that held the ghoul up seemed to be holding, but the decayed beam on the ceiling bended down under the stress.

"What do we do? Should we kill it before it can free itself?" Tomo mused silently.

"No, we have to conserve our ammo. If that thing can't get down on itself, we'll be wasting it" said Yomi. "Let's take what we need and get out of here."

"Roger! I'll go check this door here"

Osaka opened the door to the left of the entrance, and like she suspected, there was another bathroom. A half demolished toilet sat in the corner next to a dirty mirror and a shabby sink, and in the opposite corner was a bathtub, filled with murky brown water. Suspiciously, she yanked the chain that was attached to the edge, and waited. Slowly, the filthy, foul smelling water dissapeared down the drain. She could only wait, expecting something terrible to be at the bottom.

--

Cautiously and one by one, the four others snook past the hanging corpse. It had already spotted the intruding girls and was clawing and grabbing for them greedily, all while emmiting the typical undead groans. While Tomo and Kagura kept an eye on it, Yomi and Sakaki searched the room thoroughly. Sakaki opened up one of the drawers and found an unusual but incredibly useful object. A green/yellow pump, about the lenght of her arm, filled with a dark yellow powder. Insecticide.

"At least the bees are no longer a problem..."

Meanwhile, Yomi was thoughtfully reading some of the files that she found on the bed. One of them was a crumpled note with several old bloodstains on it.

_For once, I wish I took that job as a shoe salesman. But no, I had to choose this. Sir Spencer promised us a good paycheck, good food and a nice place to stay. Now, we have become the food. Food for those terrible monsters that are showing up all of a sudden. I already lost my colleague and good friend. Robert, the poor guy, was mauled to death by one of those savage freaks. I left him in the bathroom of room 002, but I didn't have the stomach to give him the final blow... Dammit._

_Just when I thought I saw everything, I was ambushed by some weird monkey on my way over here. The fur was ripped open and the muscles were bulging out. And those eyes, I'll never forget them until the day I die, which won't be long since the son of a bitch bit me! To make it even worse, I had to spend my last bullets on that thing. I dumped it in the bathtub and filled it with water to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere. If it wasn't already dead, it would surely drown. You never know with these creeps._

_There's only one thing left to do now. I already prepared the noose and attached it to the ceiling. It may not be enough to prevent me from turning into one of them, but at least I won't die slowly and miserably. Now I just have to gather the courage and get up on that chair. I can at least end my life as a person..._

Yomi frowned and turned the piece of paper around. There was a small message written on the back.

_Linda, please forgive me..._

_--_

Osaka choked and gagged. On the bottom of the tub was a dead Eliminator, in a very far state of decomposition, maw wide open. The fur had gone from white to dark grey and the muscles were now brownish and even black in some places. It smelled more awful than anything she had ever encountered before. The warmed water had sped up the decay process, turning it into a rotten, squishy slab. If it hadn't been in the water all the time, it would have been swarming with flies, maggots and other small insects.

"Oh my..., how did this happen?" She thought aloud with her hand in front of her nose and mouth.

But next to the grotesque cadaver was something that looked a bit more pleasant. A big, citrine yellow emerald, much like the one that Tomo picked up earlier. Except for it being covered in filth, it seemed to be in perfect condition. Slowly, Osaka reached down in the tub, but she couldn't do it after all. No way would she go near that corpse with her hands. She retracted and tried a different approach. She used her Baby Eagle to push the stone to the far end side of the tub. Only then would she pick it up, with only her thumb and index finger.

"Ugh, smells just like that monkey" she winced.

Osaka turned around and headed for the sink. She figured she might as well rinse it first before putting it in her pocket, or else she would have to carry that stench around for God knows how long.

--

Yomi let the crumpled note twirl to the floor and glanced over the next file. This one was an A4 format paper ridden with text. Yomi sighed and decided to at least read the first few paragraphs quickly, since she didn't want to waste too much time, but didn't want to stay uninformed either.

_Plant 42 report_

_4 days have passed since the accident and the plant at Point 42 is growing amazingly fast. It has been affected by the T-Virus differently than other plants have been and shows unique shape in addition to its size. Looking at the way it behaves, it is now difficult to determine what kind of plant it was originally._

_There are two ways in which Plant 42 gathers nutrition. The first one is through its root that reaches into the basement. Immediately after the accident, a scientist went mad and broke the Aqua Ring. Now the basement is filled with water. It is easily imaginable that some chemical elements were blended in the water and promotes the incredibly fast growth of Plant 42._

_Another part of Plant 42 from the basement grows through the duct and hangs down like so many bulbs from the ceiling of the first floor. Many vines come out of those bulbs and they are the second resource for its nutrition. Once sensing movement, Plant 42 shoots its vines around the prey and holds it. Then it starts sucking up blood, using the suckers located at the back of its vine._

_It also has some intelligence. It blocks the door by twinning its_

_vines around it especially when it captures prey or is sleeping. Several staff members have already fallen victim to this._

There was no doubt in Yomi's head anymore that this Plant 42 was the one that took Chiyo away. What worried her the most was that this file said that the vines have suckers that drain the victims blood. If that was true, then Chiyo's life was in grave danger. She threw the file back onto the bed and rallied her friends.

"We have to get going now! We have to find Chiyo-chan as fast as possible!"

Tomo, Kagura and Sakaki looked up to her confused.

"W...why? What's wrong?" Tomo questioned.

"No time! I'll explain later!"

--

Meanwhile, Osaka was still cleaning off the emerald. Slowly, it returned to its original state, and the smell was a lot more bearable than before. Satisfied, she shut off the faucet and stared at the stone.

"Good as new!" she smiled.

Her heart skipped a beat when a soft scratching emerged from behind her. Scared and petrified, she slowly turned her head.

"It couldn't be..."

On the edge of the tub was a skinny, furry paw, followed closely by the second. Next, the rest of the body wearily pushed itself up. When it reached the edge, the rotten cadaver tumbled over it and hit the floor with a wet thump, leaving a small puddle of putrid water behind. Osaka stared in total awe, her heart beating out her throath. The creature didn't seem to be a treath anymore, but it was still a very disturbing and frightening sight. The soaked, rotting slab slowly dragged itself across the floor while softly growling and snarling in a stammering fashion. It had no eyes and barely any flesh attached to its bones. Most of it had already withered, eaten away by billions of micro-organisms. The fur, or what was left of it, was clotted with decomposed organic matter. The primate reached its claw upward and gave one last pitiful grunt, before plummeting down on the floor again, not moving anymore.

Osaka sighed in relief. She looked at the emerald in her hand and placed it in her sidepack.

"Phew. That's it... I'm outta here!"

"Osaka! Are you done in there? We have to get going!"

Osaka glanced to the door at Yomi's shouting.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" she yelled back.

--

The five made it outside of the room, back in the hallway, leaving the floundering zombie behind. Kagura tried her absolute best to keep up with the others, but the morphine had not worn out yet, and the pain in her leg was gradually returning. To top it all off, the slight headache that she felt was getting worse. She leaned against the wall and panted heavily.

"W...wait... I...I can't go on. Leave me here..." she stammered.

Yomi and the rest stopped in their tracks and turned around.

"Are you kidding? We're not gonna leave you here!" Tomo yelled indignant.

"I'll...I'll only slow you down anyway. It'll be alright, I'll hide in that room over there until you get back..."

Yomi and Sakaki looked at eachother and nodded. "Alright, you sit this one out and rest. We'll be back" the shorter one responded.

Sakaki reached down in her pouches and pulled out a handgun and a magnum. She handed them to Kagura.

"Here, your guns. You dropped them in the shark tank. Use them in case something goes wrong."

Kagura smiled and took the pistol from her, but left the magnum in Sakaki's hand. "Thanks, but you keep that. You might need it more than I do..."

Sakaki nodded while Kagura gested herself towards the room. She halted for a moment and turned her head.

"Find Chiyo-chan, okay? Please..."

Yomi swallowed and nodded weakly. "Yeah... I promise..."

Kagura smiled meekly and opened the door leading to the room with the typewriter. After the door fell shut behind her, the group, now reduced to four, climbed over the crates in order to avoid the tentacle in the floor. Just when it was Osaka's turn, something shot up in her mind.

"Oh, wait a second, be right back!"

She ran off to the same door that Kagura entered, leaving the others behind dazed.

"What is it now? We ain't got time to lose!" Yomi grumbled agitated.

--

Kagura sat down on the floor against the wall, next to the table with the antique typewriter. She sighed deeply and held her head with one hand.

"Oh man, my head. That's all I need... But then again..."

She moved her hand to her leg, that was in bandages. She rubbed the bitewounds and bit her lower lip.

"Maybe a headache is the least of my worries now..."

her train of thoughts were interrupted when the door once again opened. In came Osaka, in a big hurry too.

"Sorry, I almost forgot this!"

She grabbed the red covered book from the table that she had left there and high tailed it back outside. Kagura didn't even have time to respond before the door closed again.

"Eh, okay... No problem...I guess..."

--

Some time later, Sakaki stood at the end of the hallway with the pump in her hands. All she had to do was remove the sheet of paper again, aim the pump inside the hole, and give those buzzers hell. She had to do this quickly too, or else the bugs could escape.

"You're not allergic to bee stings are you?" Tomo broke up the tension. A comment that Sakaki could miss like the plague.

She quickly ripped off the map and stuffed the manual pump inside the hole. Then, she started pumping like her life depended on it. The yellow dust dispersed in the crack, and the angry bees buzzed in panic. Only some seconds later, they could be heard tumbling to the floor, and there was a lot of them. Sakaki peered through the hole and listened carefully.

"Okay, that should do it..."

No more buzzing was heard in the gallery. This gave them the time to investigate the room more profound. The door with the numeral pad had three additional buttons, all with the same symbols they saw at the bar. It was obvious what they had to do here, but there was just one problem...

"Chiyo still has the piece of paper with the code on it..." Sakaki realised.

Tomo and Yomi were left out since they never entered the bar to begin with.

"Does the map say anything about this room?" asked Yomi.

Sakaki, who was clever enough to take the map with her, studied it and came up with the answer.

"...a stock room for chemicals or something..."

"Let's just leave it be then"

At the end of the corridor in the north-west side of the room was a gigantic hive, and many dead bees littering the floor. It was quite frightning to see these huge insects in person. So far, the only one who saw them before was Kagura, and she sure wasn't joking when she said they were big. Some of the larger ones even had the length of Sakaki's lower arm, but those were in minority. At least they were dead now, but someone had to go through the carpet of dead bugs, since there was a key laying on a crate below the hive.

"No way, not happening! You do it Tomo!" was Yomi's immediate response.

"Me? B-b-but they're so big! Can't Sakaki-san do it?" Tomo cowered.

Sakaki, now with a stammering in her voice, tried to give an excuse. "W...well, t-t-the thing is, I'm..."

"Got it!"

The others could believe their eyes when they saw Osaka standing right in front of the crate with the key in her hand. Somehow, fearlessly, she had hopped across the figurative battlefield before they even knew it.

"Look! When you stand on them, they pop! See?"

Osaka stomped her foot down on one of the smaller bees, and sure enough, it exploded like a ripe cherry, except with a brownish, sticky goo.

"That's...disgusting Osaka, really..." Tomo cringed.

The others couldn't help but agree with her.

The key appeared to be the one for room 003. Conveniently, the door for that room was in the gallery, so they wasted no more time and opened it. Like the others of its kind, it was a bedroom with a bathroom next to the entrance. But in both rooms, huge vines were sticking out of the wooden walls, apparently broken through with incredible force. Some moths were flapping around them angrily like they were invading their territory.

"Whoa! Look at that! Where the hell is that coming from!" Tomo yelled in amazement.

Yomi ran up to the door at the back and turned the knob. She was sure that Plant 42 would be behind that door, and she was determined to teach it a lesson. But the door was locked. Frustrated, she kicked and punched the door several times.

"Yomi, are you gonna tell us what the hell is going on?!" Tomo interrupted her frenzy.

Yomi sighed. "Sure, but don't ask any questions okay? There's a plant in this house that's infected with T-virus and apparently has grown to huge proportions. They call it Plant 42. I'm sure it's behind this door right here. The file said something about it growing through the ducts and the roots being in the basement. It also said that there are suckers on the vines that drains the victim of its blood...so..."

The following silence was only broken by the sound of the moths.

"So...so Chiyo-chan may already be dead?" Tomo said carefully.

Sakaki gasped in shock. "...no...no that can't be..."

"B...but, we made a promise right? That we'd get outta here together! She can't just break that promise, can she...?" Osaka yelled with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Osaka...but..." Yomi paused to rub away the tear that was welling up behind her spectacles. "I...I don't think she could have survived for that long..."

Sakaki felt the rage building up inside her. An anger unlike any that she had ever felt in her whole life, and a lot more emotions that she couldn't handle. Disbelief, unable to grasp the situation. Frustration, because she let that vine take Chiyo away. Defeat, because of her disability to act fast enough. Sorrow, because of the loss of one of her best friends. Guilt, because she couldn't keep the promise that she made to her. But she knew what she wanted more than anything now. Vengeance! This Plant 42, whatever it was, she wanted it dead, preferably by her own hands! As for the whole mansion, she couldn't care less if it blew sky high. In fact, she would be glad to see that happen. It was beginning to become more than she could take, and then, suddenly but inevitably, she erupted.

Without a warning, Sakaki pushed Yomi out of the way and nearly hit Tomo in the face. She aimed the barrel of her shotgun at the lock of the door and blasted it out. Splinters flew through the air, but Sakaki didn't stall. She sprinted into the room and up the wooden stairs. Tomo was knocked off guard by the sudden outburst, the second one in less than 15 minutes. But this, she had never seen her like this before. Even when everyone thought Kagura was dead, she still had that composed look. Sorrowful, but calm. But now, for the first time for them, and probably anyone, Sakaki was truly angry. And it was scary, she had to admit. Tomo knew she had to stop her somehow, and followed her in.

"Wh...what in the world just happened!" Yomi snapped, recollecting herself from the floor.

Osaka was just as surprised and startled. "Sakaki-san, she..."

"Oh no, she's gonna get herself killed, is she crazy?!"

Since the damage had been done, she saw no other choice but to go in as well. But then, the door was violently pushed shut, nearly hitting Yomi in the face. She tried to push, but it was obstructed. She knew why. The plant was intelligent enough to block doors with its vines to trap certain intruders. Next, they would wrap around the victims, and drain their blood... And the next victims, were Sakaki and Tomo.

--

Tomo could only stare at the ceiling in awe. The room was huge, maybe as big as the mansion main entrance hall. There was also a second floor balcony, going all around the room, and an old furnace in the back. All over the wooden walls were small, fixed, vein like vines, firmly attached. But in the center of the ceiling was what really made her jaw drop. The closer the vines came to the ceiling, the bigger they became, and the source of all of them was a huge bulb hanging down vertically. Attached to this bulb was a smaller spherical part, with a strange liquid seeping out of the bottom of it. This orb seemed to be harder than the body, but it made a sort of throbbing movement. Out of the body sprouted several tentacles, all at least 30 feet long and very flexible. Some of them ended in a funnel shaped flower, while others had something like a spiked club at the tip. The plant as a whole was so big that it could easily have spreaded all over the residence. Above her, coming from the balcony, she heard Sakaki yelling something viciously, but she was too dumbstruck to catch what she was saying. Tomo took a few steps back while capturing the floral behemoth on camera. Her whole body was trembling when one of the tentacles slowly moved near her. The flower was now hovering straight above her head, and suddenly dumped a dangerous looking juice down on her.

"Huh?"

--

Sakaki's impression was subdued by her anger. She stood on the balustrade, shotgun in hand and magnum near reach. Tears ran down her face and her fist clenched tightly.

"So, you're the one that took Chiyo-chan from us! You're going to pay for this! I'm going to destroy you if it's the last thing I do!" she yelled from the top of her lungs.

The usually always calm and collected Sakaki had now turned into a bomb of raging fury, determined to wipe out what was right in front of her. Something that many others before her had failed in. She would get her sweet revenge, there was no doubt in her mind that she would. Plant 42 responded to her fit by violently sweeping one of its many tentacles at her.

--

"Whaa!"

Tomo stammered backwards as the transparent liquid splashed to the floor, missing her by an inch. The puddle was bubbling, even smoking slightly, and had a very strong odour. She came up with a quick conlusion of what the substance was. Acid! If this stuff would touch her, it could most likely eat right through her. She made a quick mental note to avoid anything that the plant would throw at her at all costs, all while avoiding the tentacles as well. She proceeded to run across the room and opened fire on the sphere below the body, since she made it out as the weak spot. Her weak Beretta didn't seem to even flinch it though.

--

Sakaki swiftly crouched down, dodging the tentacle that flung right over her. The produced wind made her long hair waver. She had to be careful; if she got hit by one of those swipes, she could get seriously injured, even killed. She stayed down on one knee and aimed her shotgun at the bulb. It was only then that she became aware that she wasn't alone in the room, as she heard other gunshots coming from the ground floor. She had seen that the door was blocked off, but didn't know that someone else made it in the room. She pumped a few shells into the giant bulb, having little to no effect, and looked over the railing.

"Tomo-chan!"

Tomo looked up when hearing her voice. "Sakaki-san, be careful! Those flowers make acid!"

--

"Come on Yomi, think! There has to be something we can do!"

Yomi was going out of her mind and lost the ability to think straight. She was pacing to and fro, holding her hand to her forehead.

"The roots are in the Aqua Ring, what if we did something to those... But what?" she murmured loud enough for Osaka to hear.

Osaka was looking around the room, and something caught her eye. On the bookshelf against the wall was a row of red books, much like the one she was holding in her hand. But in between them was a lone white book, sticking out like a sore thumb. She grabbed the book, took it out, and a piece of paper slipped out from between the pages.

"What's this?"

She reached down and picked it up, glanced over it and handed it to Yomi, who started reading immediately.

_As I started in the last report, there are some common features found in the cells of the plant infected by the Tyrant virus. We also have found another interesting fact through some experiments._

_We found an element that destroys these plant cells rapidly in "UMB No.20", one of_

_the series of UMB chemicals that we used for that experiment. We named this "UMB No.20" as "V-JOLT"._

_In our calculation it will take less than 5 seconds to destroy Plant 42 if we put the "V-JOLT" directly on the root. You need to mix some of the UMB series chemicals in a specific order to create a "V-JOLT". But the UMB series chemicals may generate a poisonous gas which is harmful to the human body. Extreme caution should be taken when handling these chemicals. Following are the types of UMB series chemicals and their brief characteristics._

_ UMB No.3 : Red_

_Yellow-6 : Yellow_

_UMB No.7 : Green_

_UMB No.10 : Orange  
_

_VP-017 : Blue (stimulating smell) _

_V-JOLT ( 20) : Brown_

Yomi looked up from the sheet. "That's it! Osaka, you found it!"

"I did...?" she replied confused.

"Yes! Come on! No time to lose!"

--

Kagura sat on the floor in utter silence. The room was dark, but the constant flickering of the broken lamp was getting on her nerves a bit. She just wanted to put that damn thing out of it's misery already, but figured that would be a waste of precious bullets. Her right hand rested on her bandage while the other held the gun. The others were gone a little too long for her liking, and she started to get worried. What if they couldn't find Chiyo after all, and what if whatever got Chiyo took them away too! She closed her eyes and once again sighed deeply. Her head felt like she had one too many drinks, light and slightly aching. She did have a few drinks, two in fact, yet they didn't really do anything to her. She was just feeling the aftereffects of the small dose of morphine, so in a way, it was a hangover.

She didn't even open her eyes when she heard a faint crack followed by a thud in the distance. She already knew what it meant, so she didn't move a muscle and tried to relax. Even when she heard a door open in the corridor, she didn't flinch. Instead, she softly uttered.

"So, you finally got down huh? Wonder if you can find me..."

Some seconds later, a soft scratching at the door, moaning and fumbling at the doorknob.

"Not bad... Have you smelled blood? You must be hungry, so come and get me you creep..."

Kagura slowly opened her eyes, and the door was gently pushed open with a soft creak.

* * *

Wata : Holy cow! This part of the story has become far more epic than I first intended! Seriously, I thought it would be over by the end of this chapter, but I was so wrong. Now, we have another cliffhanger, split up in three, something that never happened to me before. Phew, I'm getting excited! XD Sorry it took so long (well, longer than it usually takes me). I also dropped a few names of the weapons that the girls carry, so why not make a list of them right here! Take it away girls!

Yomi : A six chamber "Milkor MGL Mk.1 Grenade Launcher" with 40 millimeter grenades, both regular and special sulfuric acid ones. That's a mouthful. It's identical to the one in Resident Evil Remake.

Tomo : A "Beretta 92FS Handgun". 15 round magazine, 9x19 millimeter Parabellum. I want more firepower!

Kagura : Mine's a special one, so get ready! It's a "S.T.A.R.S Beretta (M)92F Custom 'Samurai Edge' Standard Model Handgun". Pretty awesome huh? Uses the same ammo as Tomo's. I also have a "Colt Python .357 Magnum Revolver" with a 6 chamber cylinder and uses ".357 S&W Magnum" slugs. Sakaki has that one now though...

Osaka : I have a "Baby Eagle/Jericho 941 Handgun", same bullets as Tomo-chan's and Kagura-san's. Doesn't Baby Eagle sound cute? Weird name for a gun huh?

Wata : That's cause it's a small and downtoned version of the Desert Eagle.

Osaka : Oh...

Sakaki : "Winchester Model 1897 Shotgun", 6 round tube magazine, 12 gauge shotgun shells. Ehh...and Kagura's Magnum for the moment...

Chiyo : I don't have any guns. They're a bit too scary...

Wesker : I make use of a "S.T.A.R.S Beretta (M)92F Custom 'Samurai Edge' Personal Model Handgun" with a 15 round magazine and 9x19 Parabellum rounds. It's just like miss Kagura's, but modified to my personal preferences. For the heavy duty, I have a "Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum Revolver", also known as the "Silver Serpent". Unlike miss Kagura's, it uses "44 S&W Magnum" slugs, but also has a 6 round cylinder. It's the same one used by Barry Burton in the splendid remake of the first videogame. As much as I enjoyed appearing in the author's notes, I have to get going. I have some business to take care of...

Tomo : Hey, Wesker! When are you gonna show up in the story again?

Wesker : ...

Tomo : Dah! He ran off! AGAIN!

Wata : So that's all for the weapons. If you're a gun enthusiast, this probably would have rang some bells. But I have another special announcement for closure!

Kagura : Tomo! What does the counter say about the number of hits?

Tomo : *gasp* It's over ONE THOUSAAAAAND!!!

Kagura : What one thousa... Wait, that's not how it goes...

Wata : No it's not, but it's true! Thanks a whole lot to all of you for 1000 hits! ^^ In the end, it's you guys that give me the motivation to keep writing and continue this beast of a fanfic. Special thanks to all my reviewers so far, for all the wonderful feedback and comments you guys have given me. It's the best thing you could get as an author. Consider this and the rest of the story as a token of my appreciation. But to you, yeah you sitting behind that computer screen! If you are reading this, I also want to thank you for sticking to the story all the way. All of you, you friggin' rock!


	17. Bloody Roots

_Chapter 17 : done without too much delay!_

_See? I told you I'd update soon! I keep my word._

_I'm not going to waste your time, so let's go!_

_I do not own Azumanga or Resident Evil._

_Enjoy and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 17 : Bloody Roots

Yomi felt the wooden floor under her feet shudder. The whole structure was creaking and groaning. Plant 42 was angry, and it didn't intend to let anyone leave alive. In the room of its core were Tomo and Sakaki, possibly the only hopes to destroy the monstrosity before it could tear through the building. Below her feet, underneath the floor somewhere, was Chiyo. She didn't know where she was, nor did she know if she was still alive or not. She prayed for all of them, but there was still something Osaka and she could do from their end. At least, if the space cadet could somehow recall the access code to the chemicals storage room.

"Come on Osaka, you have to remember!" Yomi said nervously.

Osaka stared at the symbols and tried her absolute best to link them to the numbers. But at a time like this, her memory failed on her.

"Urgh, I'm trying!" she exclaimed while clamming her eyes shut and pushing her thumb and index finger on her forehead. She had found out that it was easier for her to think when she did that.

"I remember the colors. Red, Orange and Green, from the billiard balls. That's 3, 5 and 6... But I don't remember which symbol went with what!"

"Wait!" Yomi interrupted. "That's it? You remember the numbers but not the symbols?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Then gamble! How hard can it be to get it right?!" she yelled agitated.

It was when Yomi snarled at her that she remembered something.

"Hang on! Two eyelashes...green, I remember now! I was there when Chiyo-chan litted the candle!"

She pressed the button with the symbol of an eye with two eyelashes. The caused the numeral pad to lit up with a green flickering light. Without any hesitation, she pressed the 6 button, causing that button go out. She then recalled Kagura mentioning that the eye on the balcony had no eyelashes, so she pressed that button. She had seen that the candle next to the door was red, so the one upstairs must have been orange. She pressed the 5 on the numeral pad, and finally, linked the eye with 3 lashes on top and 1 on the bottom with the number 3. The sequence was completed, and the door unlocked with a click.

"I did it!"

Yomi was a bit dumbstruck. Osaka got it right on the first try. She didn't think that her mind was capable of such a thing, so impressed was the right word she was looking for. Then again, she had already proven to be good with puzzles.

"Great job Osaka-san, now let's go!"

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do anyway?"

Yomi opened the door and revealed a small room stacked with many bottles. A small lamp on the ceiling to illuminate the room, a sink in the far left corner and pieces of paper and writings on the wall.

"To put it simply, we are gonna make something to kill the Plant 42. something called V-jolt."

Osaka nodded dumbly. "Okay, and how are we gonna do that?"

"I don't know. It's in the file but there are no instructions... I figured there may be some clues here. It's a long shot, but it's better than nothing." Yomi sighed.

"Clues huh? Leave it to me!" Osaka beamed. She looked around the room and saw something strange written on the wall. It was clearly a mathematical equasion, possibly a formula. It seemed way too suspicious to be something random.

_1+3=4, 4+6=10, 1+6=7, 10+7=17, 17+3=20_

It didn't make sense to her just yet, so she had to know more. To her right were some more writings in big letters, written with an alcohol based marker pen. They were more clues.

_Water = 1, Red = 3, Purple = 4, Yellow = 6_

"Argh, why do they have to be so damn cryptic about this?! Can't they just straight out tell us what to do?" Yomi snarled annoyed.

But meanwhile, the gears in Osaka's head had already started turning, and it didn't take long at all until she figured it out.

"I think I get it Yomi-san," she timidly replied. "Could I see that paper you found?"

The long text didn't mean anything to her, but it wasn't important. What caught her attention were names of the chemicals and their numbers, as well as the color descriptions. If she could work with the numbers and colors alone, she was sure she could do it. She ran up to the sink, and next to it were two containers with a red and yellow compound respectively. UMB No.3 and Yellow-6 were on the tags. Someone must have been working with them recently. In the sink were bottles with only a bit of water inside them. Yomi spectated her as she grabbed one of the bottles and took some water from the faucet.

"One plus three equals four..."

She took the bottle with the red chemical and carefully poured some of it with the water. The content of the bottle gradually turned purple.

"Purple equals four... It worked!" she cheered.

"Well, at least you got it figured out. But be careful... If you mess up, it could make a poisonous gas..." Yomi said.

Osaka gulped. "Okay... What's next?"

Yomi turned around and looked at the wall. "Ehh... Four plus six equals ten!"

"Okay...six...Yellow-6!"

After pouring in some of the yellow compound, the mixture turned orange. UMB No.10.

"One plus six equals seven!"

Osaka took a new bottle and put some water in it first, then introduced the Yellow-6 into it, turning the mixture green. UMB No.7

"Ten plus seven equals seventeen!"

"Okay let's see here..."

She combined the two mixtures she had, resulting in a blue chemical with a very strange smell. VP-017.

"Okay, this is the last one! Seventeen plus three equals twenty!"

For the final touch, Osaka put some of the red chemical into the bottle, and that was it. The mixture turned a dark brown. The V-jolt had been completed, probably in a record time.

"It's done! I did it! If only chemistry was always this easy!" she cheered.

Yomi was very impressed to say the least. "Osaka-san, amazing job! If it was me alone, it would have taken a lot longer to figure that out. I'm oficially crowning you as the puzzle master, as cheesy as that sounds." She said while placing her hand on her shoulder. "But we'll have to save the ceremony for later. Let's go to the Aqua Ring right away!"

Osaka, as flattered as she was, twisted the lid on the bottle and nodded meekly.

--

"Oh man! This isn't good! We're not hurting it!"

Tomo was getting exhausted. She tried her absolute best to dodge the deadly vines swinging her way, but it was quickly starting to weigh down on her. The floor was slowly turning into a whack-a-mole board. Several holes had formed from the clubbed vines bashing into it and the acid pouring out of the flowers. She had about more than she could take and constantly tripped over her own feet in exhaustion. Her ammo was running out, and yet she didn't seem to be going anywhere fast. As if that wasn't bad enough, the plant was getting more and more aggressive. As a last resort, she took shelter underneath the balcony and collapsed against the wall, panting heavily and sweat dripping off her nose.

"S...Sakaki-san! It's no use, we have to get out of here!" she shouted, hoping that her friend would hear her call.

--

Sakaki had about the same problem. She constantly had to dodge the vines, and that was taking its toll on her. She saw that her shotgun didn't slow the plant down. On the contrary, it was pissing it off even more. She was wasting her ammunition, so using the magnum was out of the question until she found some sort of weak spot. Her face was red with a blush and she wiped the sweat away with her hand.

"Damn... What is your weakness..."

She heard Tomo's call coming from below, but no matter how useless it seemed, she was determined to bring it down somehow. Then suddenly, the petals shielding the lower bulb folded open, spilling a strange transparant liquid all over the floor. It exposed a strange, beige colored, throbbing sack that seemed a lot softer and more vulnerable than the rest of the plant.

"Its innards...? That's it!"

Sakaki didn't wait for it and pulled out her magnum. She aimed it at the sack and pulled the trigger. With a loud bang, the bullet pierced its innards and it contracted like a throbbing heart. Sakaki was knocked back a bit by the recoil, but rounded up for the next shot. With such firepower, not even this monstrosity could last long. But before Sakaki could pull the trigger again, one of the clubbed vines raced down on her. She took a quick sidestep to dodge, but the vine smashed right through the balustrade. The wooden structure collapsed and Sakaki took the fall along with it. The cloud of dust stung her eyes as she tried to stand up, but the broken planks fell down on her back. Luckily she had held on to her weapons, because there was no time to look for them. All the vines were now swinging about maniacally, making a safe passage underneath it impossible. Also, the liquid pouring out of the vital internals didn't seem too friendly. Because Sakaki caused damage to it, the plant was now extremely aggressive, and it looked about ready to go in for the kill again. With a bunch of bleeding cuts on her arm, Sakaki scrambled to her feet and ran underneath the balcony to where Tomo was.

"Are you alright?" the shorter girl asked.

"Yeah, you?"

Tomo nodded. "Yeah, tired as hell though. What are we gonna do? It looks like it's really pissed off now!"

"It's not gonna let us leave, we have to kill it before it can kill us! Here, take this."

Sakaki grabbed her shotgun by the barrel and handed it to her.

"Your handgun isn't gonna help. I don't have many shells left, so make every shot count."

Tomo looked at the weapon questionably. She never fired a gun of that caliber before.

"Come on Tomo-chan. We don't have time. I can't do this on my own..."

"You should have thought of that before you barged in here. And I thought I was impulsive"

"I'm sorry..."

Tomo chuckled and grabbed the shotgun from her hand. "Oh well, too late for that now. Let's show this creep who's boss!"

Sakaki smiled meekly and nodded. "Thank you. Aim for its internals, it's the only weak spot. When the petals close, hold your fire!"

"Right! Be careful."

"Yeah, you too."

Tomo and Sakaki spreaded out, looking for a safe spot to open fire. Tomo ran partly up the stairs and ducked behind the railing. She rested the heavy weapon on the railing and aimed for the innards.

"Let's see you feast on this!"

She squeezed the trigger and blasted the hail right into its weakspot. It once again contracted and bled a white slime. She discarded the empty shell and fired again. Sakaki was taking cover behind one of the supporting beams and fired another powerfull round into its belly. But after this, Plant 42 learned its lesson and closed the petals again, shielding the innards from harm. Sakaki crouched down by the beam and opened the cylinder.

"Only three bullets left..."

--

Kagura was still sitting in the storage room, her gun resting on her lap. It was fairly peaceful and relaxing there, but something was really annoying her. It wasn't the flickering light, she had gotten used to that, but another inconvenience that really got on her nerves. When she had enough of it, she grumbled and jumped up from her position. She rubbed her nose and marched over to the door that was left ajar. She pulled and held it open and looked outside, to the left, to the right, and repeat.

"Urgh, I guess no one will mind..."

She reached her foot back and clumsily dragged something outside.

"Come on you, work with me... Grrr... Get out!"

Like she was throwing out the trash, she kicked the headless undead into the hallway. Its head was blown off by one well aimed bullet, impressing even Kagura herself seeing what condition she was in.

"Phew, I couldn't bear that smell any second longer! Not to mention the flies it was attracting. Hope this doesn't lure any other monsters..."

Kagura shrugged and shut the door, excluding herself into the darkness again. But when it's dark, it's really hard to see where you're going. On her way back, she abruptly slipped over the blood pooled on the floor.

"Whaa!"

With a yelp and a thump, she fell face down to the floor. She didn't bother to get up yet, although the floor wasn't exactly a very comfy mattress. Still, it was better than cussing and freaking out like an idiot. If only she had fallen on a carpet or something.

"...The smell is still here...," she sighed.

Kagura was having a very bad night...

--

According to Osaka, there was nothing that even resembled roots on the bottom of the Aqua Ring. If there were, she probably wouldn't have missed something like that. That left only the upper floor to investigate, and since they had already seen most of that, they could abridge their search and only look in places in which they never walked before. They found another door not too far from the control room door, directly opposite to the central tank. It was obvious that they already found what they were looking for. The door led to a small computer room, and in the corner was a cluster of squirming tentacles coming from a hole in the roof. Yomi looked at the wriggling mass a bit terrified, but also a bit relieved.

"So, this is it huh?"

"Even the roots are alive," Osaka said in her usual tone.

"So how do we do this? Do we just throw it on them or what?"

"What did the file say?"

"To put it directly on the root..."

"Oh, okay. I'll do it!"

Osaka twisted the lid off the bottle and carefully approached. One of the tentacles lashed out at her and Osaka stammered backwards.

"Yikes!"

She took the bottle with both hands and splashed the V-jolt onto the roots with a yanking movement. After that, she dropped the bottle on the floor and ran back next to Yomi.

"Is it working?"

"I don't know... Let's hope it is."

After a few seconds, the roots started flinging around in panic and slowly retracted back up the hole. One of them came loose and tumbled to the ground, where it continued to flounder.

"Osaka... We did it! Yeah, we did it!" Yomi shouted, a glance of hope returning to her face.

"Ahh... We did huh? We killed it!" Osaka cheered.

"All thanks to you! Come on, let's go back up. Maybe we can still find Chiyo-chan after all!"

They both raced out, heading back for the residence. They prayed that Chiyo was still alive, and that Tomo and Sakaki were okay.

--

Tomo and Sakaki looked up from their shelters when the plant that was so aggressive only a few seconds ago suddenly stopped moving. The vines bashed to the floor and hung lifeless, and the bulbs slowly started shrinking. When the last bit of motion dissapeared, everything was silent. Tomo stood up and looked at it.

"Wh...What happened?"

"I don't know... Is it dead?" Sakaki guessed, coming from behind the beam that was covering her.

Tomo walked down the stairs and stared at the motionless monstrosity.

"Hmm... It must have been Yomi and Osaka!"

"You think?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I don't know what they did, but I guess we should go thank them!"

Whatever happened, Sakaki sure was glad that this thing was dead. She may not have done it herself, but that didn't matter to her anymore. As long as it was dead, she was satisfied. Now she knew what she had to do next.

"Come on, let's get out of here. We have to find Chiyo-chan!"

"Yeah."

Sakaki ran to the exit and was about to open it, when Tomo suddenly screamed high and loud. Startled, she turned around. Like she feared, the seemingly resurrected Plant 42 had wrapped one of its vines around Tomo's waist and lifted her off the ground.

"Oh no, Tomo-chan!"

Tomo tried to wiggle free from its grasp but she was clearly overpowered. She stared into the core that once again exposed itself, and the vine slowly brought her closer to it. It seemed to her that it was trying to devour her or something.

"Sakaki-san, little help here? I think this thing wants me for lunch!"

Sakaki ran to the side and quickly fired the last three bullets in the magnum into the innards. Angrily, the vine tossed Tomo away. She bashed into the wall all the way into the back, right next to the furnace, and fell to the floor unconcious. Sakaki sprinted up to her and turned her around.

"Tomo-chan! Hey, wake up! Come on, snap out of it!"

Now the plant was even more furious than before. Sakaki couldn't believe it. She fired up to 5 magnum rounds into what she made out as the only weakness, plus the shotgun shells that Tomo fired, and it still wouldn't die. It occured to her that maybe this monster was unstoppable after all. She was almost certain that she and Tomo were going to die there, since she was on her own now. Tomo was out cold and didn't react. Like things couldn't get any worse, the whole room suddenly started shaking.

--

Osaka and Yomi had made it back to room 002 when the shaking began. Osaka stumbled around and held herself straight against a wall. Yomi dove against the bookcase and convulsively held onto it.

"Earthquake?" Osaka yelled.

"No, I don't think so, it feels different!"

The rumble held on for about 10 seconds, and suddenly, something bursted through the floor and walls. To their shock, several green vines tore through the building, crushing the wood and stone with ease. Osaka dove into a corner and crouched down, her hands covering her head. The walls were pushed out of the way and a big part of the ceiling came crashing down, while the floor bulged upwards and broke from below. Soon, the whole room was caving in and Yomi and Osaka were about to be pulverized. The bed was pushed up and smashed against the broken wall, and the bookcase fell over. Yomi ran up to Osaka and grabbed her hand. If they didn't leave soon, it would be all over for them. She pulled her out of the corner and dashed to the door, avoiding the tentacles and rubble. But the hallway was in no better state. The vines pushed themselves up from the flooring and smashed through the walls. The windows were reduced to shards and all the lights had been destroyed.

"Unbelievable!" Yomi gasped.

"The V-jolt thing didn't work!" Osaka cried.

"Osaka, we have to get through here! This plant is gonna kill us if we don't!"

"But how!"

"The old fashioned way. We run!"

"What? But we can't make that!"

"We don't have a choice, this whole place is coming apart! It's not that far, we just have to make it to the room Plant 42 is in!"

"What? Why?"

"It's time for plan B. I'm gonna pay it a visit. And then I'm gonna blow it up!"

"But... Okay..."

"We run on three alright? One... Two... Three!"

--

It was obvious that the whole building was violently trembling, since Kagura was feeling it too. The rumble got heavier by the second and was accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. She looked around nervously and grabbed her gun tightly.

"Great, what now?"

Without a warning, one of the large vines broke through the wall and send planks, dust and splinters flying. As quickly as she could, she ran out of the room and into the hallway. With eyes wide open, she stared at the floor being shredded into pieces by an incredible force coming from below. The zombie corpse was pushed against the wall by a squirming mass breaking through. A large wave of vines was tearing through the whole structure and headed her way. With no time to ask herself what the hell was going on, she legged it towards the exit. Frantically, she kicked the door open, but didn't think her actions through enough. Forgetting that it was still dangerous outside, she was now standing face to face with an Eliminator, who was just as surprised as Kagura was. Her whole body trembled, and she took a step back and aimed her gun at the primate. The mutant shrieked and jumped up into the air. Kagura grabbed it by the paws as it came down and was pushed over to the concrete ground. It gnawed at her ferociously and the drool dripped down on her face. As much as she used all her might, she simply couldn't hold it back anymore. She was all out of energy and strenght. Just when she knew that she was going to die, a warm liquid splattered on her face and the creature squeeled in pain. Blood ran out of its maw and the body shocked one more time before all the life dissapeared. Kagura pushed the monkey off her and sighed in relief.

"Th...thank you..."

Wesker cleaned the blood off his combat knife and reached his hand to her to help her up.

"You okay?"

Kagura nodded and grabbed his hand and let herself get pulled up. She dusted herself off and glanced to the residence. It was getting devoured by the vines. They were everywhere, sticking out of the walls and roof, contorting the whole building and slowly crushing it under the tremendous force. They all seemed to be coming from the block with the second floor, since that part was mostly left untouched.

"What's going on here? And where are the others?"

Kagura swallowed the lump forming in her throath and softly answered.

"They're still inside..."

--

Back at the core of Plant 42, the tentacles were completely out of control. The flowers spewed acid at random and the clubbed vines smashed into everything they could smash into. The two bulbs contracted rapidly like a fluttering heart and without any pattern at all. It wouldn't be long before the whole room gave way and collapsed. Plant 42 was on the verge of destroying everything and killing everyone, even itself!

Sakaki held on to Tomo who was still unconscious and shielded her from the rubble falling down. A small and shiny object fell to the floor right in front of her, probably coming from the fireplace. She reached out for it and picked it up.

"A key?"

She quickly put it in her pocket and picked up Tomo by the back and legs. If she didn't move it, the whole balcony would come down on her. She just had to make it to the door without getting hit, but that was no easy task at all. But before she could gather her courage to do it, several gunshots sounded from the room in the back. The wood splintered and the lock was blown out. Yomi and Osaka barged in through the double door, both completely out of breath.

"Sakaki! Tomo!" the taller girl shouted.

"Whoa! It's gigantic!"

Osaka stammered back in amazement, but Yomi did the opposite. She marched forward, grenade launcher aimed at the bulb.

"Take cover, both of you!"

Sakaki ran to the corner with Tomo in her arms. It seemed like the most sturdy spot to her. Yomi didn't think twice and squeezed the trigger. The grenade flew out of the barrel and straight into the internals. A powerful explosion shook the plant and spasmed the vines. Yomi grinned victoriously and was sure it was all over, but when the smoke cleared it became obvious that the explosion only charred the innards, not destroy them.

"What?! Impossible!"

Plant 42 was still very much alive, even after absorbing so much damage. The V-jolt failed, the bullets failed, and now even the grenade failed. But Yomi wasn't keen on giving up. She readied herself for another shot, but was interrupted by one of the clubbed vines swiping into her. It hit her dead in the stomach, the grenade launcher flew out her hands and she was catapulted into the wall. Coughing and sputtering, she held her belly that was felt like it imploded and tried to struggle to her feet.

"D...Dammit!"

Osaka wanted to aid her, but was grabbed by the waist and lifted up. The vine squeezed her tightly to the point where she felt like she was going to pop. She screamed in fear and pain, and hopelessly tried to cry out for help. But Yomi was still on the floor, writhing in pain, Tomo still hadn't woken up, and Sakaki's energy had run dry, as well as her hopes. She bit her lower lip and started crying.

"We...we can't destroy it... It's too strong! I'm sorry everyone, this is all my fault..."

But then, time seemed to be standing still for a moment. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a hollow thump echoed through the demolished room. Only a fraction of a second later, Sakaki looked up and saw a trail of smoke heading directly for the core. Mindnumbed, they all watched as the internals violently bursted apart in a devastating explosion. The petals and body cought fire immediately and the white liquid sprayed all over the place. In a last spasm, the vines swung wildly and threw Osaka to the ground, where she proceeded to crawl away as fast as she could. One by one, the vines and petals detached and fell to the ground. The main bulb slowly shrunk and gave off one final hiss. After the bulb was almost completely gone, everything went silent and calm. Just a small burnt petal was still stuck to the ceiling. Plant 42 was finally dead, left at the mercy of nature to slowly rot away.

Sakaki, Yomi and Osaka stared in awe. They couldn't register what happened yet, but when their eyes saw who did this, they simply couldn't believe them.

Right in front of the busted balcony and a large fissure in the wall, she threw the grenade launcher to the ground with a clang. She clenched her fists, panting heavily with her mouth wide open and one eye clammed shut. Her clothes torn up, her body covered with cuts and bruises, and a thick, viscous fluid. Her left pigtail loose, the other halfway untied, and her hair sticking to her forehead. Her arms and legs trembling like a grass halm in the wind, yet the expression on her face stuck to a determined and fearless one.

"Chiyo-chan!"

"There... How's that..." she uttered between gasps.

"CHIYO-CHAN!" Osaka yelled. She ran up to the little girl and embraced her tightly.

"You're okay! I was so worried!" she sobbed, tears overflowing her eyes.

"Ah, that hurts Osaka-san! Don't squeeze!" the little girl chuckled softly.

"Sorry... Oh, you're all sticky!"

"Yeah, I know..."

Yomi slowly got up, holding her stomach. She sighed in relief and faintly laughed.

"Am I glad I was wrong. Amazing job Chiyo-chan."

Sakaki leaned back against the wall, relaxed and relieved. She was very happy on the inside, although she lacked the energy to bring it out. So happy that Chiyo was still alive. That everyone was still alive. That they still won the battle in the end, although it seemed like it was all over for them. She smiled and looked down to Tomo. She grabbed her and gently shook her around.

"Hey, Tomo-chan. Wake up."

Tomo groaned, turned her head and slowly opened her eyes.

"H...huh? Is it over?"

Sakaki nodded. "Yes, in a way. Look."

Tomo shook her head and sat herself straight.

"Oh man, that's the second time I blacked out today. I'm getting really sick of..."

Words escaped her when she saw Chiyo standing in the company of Osaka and Yomi further into the room.

"She did it Tomo-chan. Chiyo-chan killed Plant 42."

"Heeeh? No way! That's way too ironic!" she cried.

"How so?"

"Well, then we ended up being saved by the one we were supposed to be saving! That sounds like irony to me."

"Yes, you're right. That's how it is..."

Tomo nodded and hummed. "But then again, that's really awesome isn't it? I mean, who could have guessed that Chiyo would be the one to save our butts. Makes me feel a bit silly..." she laughed while rubbing the back of her head with her hand.

Tomo stood up and dusted herself off. She marched forward and stood directly in front of Chiyo, hands placed on her hips. She stood there for a while, staring at her, a grin plastered on her face.

Chiyo stared back.

...

"Who's awesome?" she suddenly shouted, her fist pumping forward.

"Heh?"

"You are!"

She suddenly pulled Chiyo in and hugged her tightly.

"I knew it, I knew you were still alive Chiyo-chan! You're a real trooper, no, you're hardcore! You totally blasted that thing to hell huh? You're bad to the bone!"

"I ehhh....I am?" Chiyo said timidly with a blush on her face.

"Well, Tomo's back to normal again!" Yomi laughed.

"So come on, tell us! How did you get out?"

"Well, I don't remember much..." Chiyo began. "It was very dark and warm there, and I was unconscious most of the time. Then suddenly, the vines just stopped working. I managed to get free and crawl away, but then everything just started shaking! Next thing I knew I was pushed around all over the place. I finally found this crack in the wall, and that was it..."

"I see, so the V-jolt was useful for something after all..." Yomi mused.

"The V what?" Tomo questioned.

"No, nevermind."

Sakaki shakily returned to her feet and stepped over the rubble. She looked beat up, exhausted but still she had a smile on her face. Slowly, she limped towards the rest of the group. When Chiyo noticed her, her face lit up and she ran up to her with whatever she had left. Chiyo threw herself around Sakaki's waist and hugged her, ignoring the pain that it brought her.

"I'm sorry, Chiyo-chan..."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I let that thing take you away... And I should have come after you sooner..."

Chiyo just smiled and hugged her even tighter.

"It's not your fault. I'm okay now, so don't worry about it!"

Sakaki placed her hand on Chiyo's head, and a small tear escaped her. She couldn't help but emit a small sob.

"Sakaki-san, are you crying?"

"No," she sniffed. "I'm just really happy, that's all..."

"You should have seen her Chiyo-chan! Sakaki got all angry and stuff when she heard that might have gotten killed," Osaka commented.

"Yeah, she went totally berserk! It was kinda scary," Tomo added.

"Yep, even scarier than a Hunter with a bad mood," Yomi laughed. "But don't do something reckless like that again alright?"

Sakaki nodded. "Yeah, forgive me..."

"It's okay. Come on, lets' get outta here before the whole building comes down on us."

--

Between the corpses of the Cerberus and the Eliminators outside, Kagura and Wesker were desperatly waiting for a sign of life. Looking inside the residence now, it was hard to imagine that everything was still in perfect condition only a little while ago. There was more damage than any earthquake could ever do. The vines had turned the whole building inside out in just a matter of seconds. There was nothing left of the floor, and most walls were left shattered. Kagura grew impatient and was going out of her mind with worry. She was very close to running inside the building herself. When there was no sign of anyone after another whole minute, she couldn't hold herself anymore, but was grabbed by the arm by Wesker.

"Stop! Where are you going?"

"They're not coming out! I'm going in myself and find them!"

"Don't be a fool!" he snarled. "It's too dangerous! The house is unstable, it could collapse any second!"

"I don't care!" Kagura snarled back.

"As a member of S.T.A.R.S, I cannot allow you to go inside! I will go instead, you stay right here!"

"Thanks, but you don't have to."

Kagura and Wesker looked inside the doorway and saw Tomo standing there with a grin from ear to ear.

"Yeah, she's here. It figures," she called back.

Next, Yomi popped up from behind the rubble, with Osaka next to her.

"Ah, there you are Kagura-san. I thought you might have gotten hurt!"

Kagura's face lit up with happiness and relief. But there were still two faces that she had to see before she could start celebrating.

"Aahh, sure feels great to get some fresh air again. Oh, Wesker is here too!" said Osaka.

"You guys! You're alive! But where are Sakaki and Chiyo?"

"Right behind us, don't worry." Yomi smiled.

Finally, Sakaki appeared, stepping over the debris and vines with Chiyo in her arms. Now Kagura was completely assured.

"Chiyo-chan! You found her!"

"Nah, not really," Tomo corrected. "She found us!"

"Whoa, what happened to you? You look like you went through a grinder! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Chiyo smiled. "I thought I was going to die though."

"Yeah, same here! Glad to see you back."

"Man, you missed a show Kagura! Chiyo-chan blew Plant 42 to bits!" Tomo cheered.

"What do you mean? You didn't see it either!" Yomi pointed out.

"Plant 42?"

"Oh that's right! She never got story about it!" said Tomo. "Don't worry, we'll fill you in."

Wesker stood in the background silently, a smirk on his face and his arms crossed.

"Good to see you girls still in one piece. If you don't mind, I would also like to hear about this Plant 42."

"Yeah, sure. But let's move to another spot first. We may want to get washed up a bit too."

Following Yomi's proposal, the girls and Wesker returned to the plaza with the waterfall, ignoring the cadavers of the Hunter and the scientist. Chiyo splashed some water in her face to get the goo out and untied what was left of her pigtail. She always had her hair in pigtails unless when she went to bed, so no one was really used seeing her like this. Osaka was a bit shocked too. She looked like one of her fantasies was just destroyed. But disregard that, she decided to keep her hair hanging loose from now on. It was a bit messy to make anything else out of it anyway. Meanwhile, the others were enjoying a short but well earned rest, while they explained the story to Kagura and Wesker in a nutshell.

"Ah, so that's where all those vines were coming from...," she mused.

"Very interesting. You wouldn't happen to have extracted any evidence?" Wesker asked, leaning against one of the pillars.

"Got it all on cam," Tomo answered.

"Oh well, it's dead now, and I sure am glad for that." Said Yomi. "But what do we do now? I don't think there's anything left in the mansion."

Sakaki took the key out of her pocket. She finally had the time to investigate it thoroughly. Like she suspected, there was a carving on the back. A small symbol of a helmet.

"This key! I found it while fighting the plant! There's a helmet on it."

"A helmet? I think I saw some doors in the mansion that had a helmet on them!" Kagura announced.

"So back to the mansion then?" Osaka asked.

"Guess we don't have a choice."

"Great, I was starting to miss that place!" Tomo joked.

"You sure are an eternal optimist. It's not like it's any safer there," Yomi laughed.

"I know, but I was getting tired of being surrounded by wood and water. Besides, there were too many spiders there."

"Yeah, I hear you."

"If you guys don't mind, I would like to just sit here for a little while longer..." Osaka yawned.

Of course, nobody minded. All of them had gone through a lot, so a small break would be very welcome. They had to recharge their energy anyway. But Wesker was not planning to stick around, not that that surprised anyone.

"Well, I'll be going ahead then. I left you some supplies in the shed, so don't forget to pick them up when you go back."

"Thanks Wesker, I knew we could count on you. Take care of yourself." Yomi said with a sincere tone.

"Don't mention it. And you too."

Wesker made one final aye aye sign and took the elevator up. The girls would be sitting there for another 15 minutes before they moved on, gazing at the stars. It wouldn't be long now until dawn would break.

* * *

Wata : Yes! Less delay this time! While writing this, I had the strange feeling that I reached the climax of the story already. But you veteran RE fans know that there is still a lot to come. It actually feels good to be going back to the mansion again. I was getting a bit tired of the whole residence XD (It's not really my favorite part of the game) Anyway, I hope it turned out to be pretty good, and yes, a happy ending to this scenario and no one got killed. Hurray!

Tomo : I was knocked out cold! AGAIN! Hurray!

Chiyo : I'm still alive! But I was actually very close to dying! Hurray

Kagura : I slipped over blood in a very slapstick like and rediculous fashion! Hurray!

Osaka : I was almost killed like that guy from Anaconda! Hurray!

Yomi : I might actually need a stomach transplant! Hurray!

Sakaki : In the end, I was the one who cried the most... Hurray!

All : Why are you doing this to us Wata? Why?!

Wata : Oh stop complaining.


	18. The Return To The House Of the Dead

_Chapter 18. Wow._

_Not going to waste your time here, so I'm gonna let you enjoy it. Let me know what you think of it after you're done._

_I do not own Azu or Resi._

_Let's go!__  
_

* * *

Chapter 18 : The Return To The House Of The Dead

Past the gloomy pathway, through the once filled pond and across the blood ridden plaza, the group found their way back to the shed, where according to Wesker, some mandatory supplies were waiting for them. He wasn't joking either. A small pile of fresh handgun clips, including ones compatible for Osaka's Baby Eagle. A case, about the size of a small backpack, filled to the brim with shotgun shells, two packages of magnum slugs, good to fill up the gun at least 5 times. Last but not least, two canisters of 40 mm grenades, regular explosives and sulfuric acid based, good for 10 grenades per canister. When they discovered this small gold mine, their jaws dropped to the floor.

"H...holy cow! Where does he get all this stuff?!" Kagura exclaimed in amazement.

"Beats me, but I sure am grateful!" said Tomo.

"Ah, good ol' Wesker, he sure takes good care of us huh?" the third member of the knuckleheads joined in.

Yomi crouched down by the grenades and opened up the cylinder in her launcher. There was just one acid and one regular grenade left, and she still had some of the acid type left from the last canister she found.

"Amazing! We could last another full day with all this! But how are we going to carry this much?"

"Take it inside the mansion and leave some of it in a safe room maybe?" Kagura guessed.

"We could do that, but we might have to come through here again later. I suggest we take as much as we can and leave the leftovers here."

Following Yomi's advice, the girls stuffed their sidepacks with as much ammo as possible. There was still a good deal left afterwards, serving as spares for later on. Sakaki handed the magnum back to Kagura, and everyone reloaded before moving on again. Now once again stacked with ammunition and armed to their teeth, they waltzed through the steel door and into the dark and ominous alleyway leading back to the mansion.

Through the silence of the night, Tomo heard a familiar sound in the far distance, causing her to stop in her tracks and stare through the bars of the fence, peering into the darkness. It was a stretched out and sorrowful howl, almost feminine.

"You... I haven't forgotten you. Where are you..." she thought, but only to herself.

"Come on Tomo, let's get going!"

Yomi's call tore her out of her thoughts. She nodded and followed the others back inside. Strangely, although she was scared to death by that monster, and not to mention that she almost got killed by it, she couldn't help but feel sorry for it. Calling her a monster even seemed like an insult, so she refered to her as a 'woman'. For some reason, she wanted to know her history, who she was, what happened to her, and most importantly, who did this to her. Since they were now leaving her territory, those questions may never be answered, she figured.

Once back in the mansion, the girls were glad that they were in a sturdy building again, free from the smell of pesticide and other unpleasant reeking chemicals. What they returned to now though, was the familiar stench of death lingering in the air that not even a whole supply of Febreze could get rid of. First things first, there was only one door left that had not yet been opened, but lacked the helmet symbol under the lock. Sakaki tried to be sure, but they needed a different kind of key to open this one. Chiyo wanted to open the door leading to the staircase, but then held her breath and placed her ear against the door.

"What do you hear?" Yomi whispered.

"Footsteps," she whispered back.

"A zombie?"

"I don't know. Could be..."

"Great, someone has to get rid of it. Who's feeling lucky?"

"Sounds fun," Tomo responded. "I'm on it!"

"Count me in! It's been a while since I've had some action," Kagura grinned.

Tomo grabbed the doorknob, her gun ready to fire away.

"That came out so wrong Kagura."

"I know, now shut up and open the door," the other smirked, aiming her handgun.

"Okay, here goes!"

Tomo swiftly janked open the door, but ironically, what had to be a surprise for the monster turned out to be a surprise for them.

"Oh shit!!!"

Tomo slammed the door shut again and both leaned their weight against it, trying to prevent whatever was in there from coming out.

"What! What's the matter!" Yomi questioned.

Tomo looked at her with wide eyes. "It's not a zombie..."

"We need a bigger gun," Kagura weeped.

"Well then what is it?!"

Before they could even answer that question, a green, scaled hand with long sharp claws busted through the wooden door, clawing away blindly. The duo yelped and ran away from the door. As Yomi and Sakaki readied their guns, the claw pulled back through the hole again. Then, a bloodthisty screech sounded, followed by a heavy bash against the door, and another one, and another one, until it splintered and broke out of its hinges. The wooden door broke in two and the pieces were sent flying against the wall. Another humanoid reptile leaped out of the doorframe, landing on all fours and hissing furiously. This one seemed even bigger than the first, more muscular and more pissed off too. The creature croaked and looked around, preparing for what it did best; hunting down its victims and tearing them limb from limb. It stopped its gaze at the spacey, flat chested girl and bowed through its knees, getting ready for the attack.

Osaka stared at the beast petrified as it swung its razorsharp claws back and was on the verge of lunging out at her. Before she could realize what was going on, the monster was already airborne.

"Down!"

Yomi grabbed Osaka by the shoulders and threw her to the ground, barely dodging the Hunter herself. The reptile flew right by and hit the wall hard. Almost comically, it shook its head and stumbled around dazed. Furiously, it slashed away at the wall, leaving behind deep clawmarks. After a loud bang and a sickening splat, blood and cold flesh splashed against the wall. The Hunter moved its paws to where its stomach once was. There was now a hole, large enough to peer through. Sinew, shards of intestines and what was left of the spine were the only things obstructing the view. The creature gurgled and collapsed against the wall, blood gushing out of its maw, where it continued to form a large puddle. An empty shotgun shell fell next to the corpse.

"Good job Sakaki-san," Yomi puffed.

"That's nasty! He's dead for sure!" Tomo blurted out.

Osaka got up from the floor and brushed the dust off her. "Thanks Yomi, almost lost my head there."

"Don't mention it, but pay a little more attention next time. These guys don't mess around."

"Well, that takes care of that," Kagura grinned.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be very ironic and clichéd if another one would suddenly barge through the door behind us?" Tomo laughed. "I mean, it would be like we're in some kind of cheesy horror movie of somethi-"

A loud bang suddenly sounded from behind them and the double door swung open.

"CRAP!!!"

The group legged it into the staircase room and raced up the stairs, Kagura leading the way.

"Don't you ever keep your mouth shut Tomo!?" Yomi snarled.

"The hell was I supposed to know it was really going to happen?!" she yelled back.

The Hunter wobbled through the corridor and just spotted Chiyo running up the stairs last. But then a sharp whistle coming from above grabbed its attention. It grunted and looked upwards. Next thing it knew, a bullet pierced its head and came out down below again, dissapearing into the carpet along with a gush of blood. The shock almost knocked it off its feet, but it continued to stand for a while. Then, it fell to its knees and plummeted to the floor dead.

"Haha yeah!"

Kagura victoriously blew away the smoke coming from the barrel of her magnum.

"I'd say we're totally getting the hang of this guys!" she cheered.

"Kagura! Behind you!" Tomo yelled.

"Eh?"

The brunette turned around and was face to face with yet another one of them, the third one in a row, and boy was it angry. Kagura gulped and laughed meekly.

"Hehehe... Oh fuck..."

The monster growled and lunged right at her, but instead of shooting it, Kagura quickly took a step sideways. With no more railing to hold it back, the Hunter fell down to the second floor with a squeel, landing headfirst into the railing down below. The sound on impact didn't exactly sound healthy. The neck broken, it fell down to the carpet, dead as a rock.

"Wow, what a lame way to go..." Kagura lisped. "But like I said, no problem at all!"

Tomo leaned onto the railing halfway up the stairs.

"Heh, are these really Biological Weapons? More like Biological Dumbasses if you ask me. Damn, I should have recorded that, that was hilarious!" she laughed out loud.

"Accidents happen. Poor thing, going out like that," Osaka mused.

"Not exactly a spur of intelligence no," Yomi smirked. "I guess anger does make you blind. Come on, let's go."

The group left the cadavers behind and walked deeper into the corridor, stepped over the dead Crimson Head, and headed into the small and cozy room with the furnace. Because, if they remembered correctly, there was a door compatible with the helmet key there. Indeed there was, and after Sakaki used the key on it, it revealed a small room with a pillar shaped statue in front of them. On the front side of the pillar was a sculpture of a nude woman, and it seemed suspicious to say the least. In the back was a small, oval painting of a man and a woman, and a candleholder in the corner, fixed to the wall. To their left was a doorframe, leading to a larger room with green wallpaper and two giant paintings on the walls, one to the left, and one to the right. On the beautifully decorated ceiling was a small chandelier, illuminating the room. All the way in the back was a similar statue, standing on a socket to the right. But there was another empty space to the left, and a strange red wall with a golden emblem on it in the middle. It seemed obvious what they had to do, but there was something Chiyo noticed. Something about the floor. The floor consisted of white, rectangular tiles serving as a frame, with square, dark grey tiles in the middle. This pattern repeated itself across the whole floor, but that was not what was weird about it. What caught the younger girl's attention were the two rails running across it, originating from the left and right walls.

"Another trap!" she concluded. "There's rails on the floor. I bet those walls close in on you somehow."

"Ugh, clever. What are we going to do about it?" Tomo sighed.

The problem was that they had no idea how the trap triggered, and they certainly didn't want to try it out first to see how it worked. The only option and possibility was to push the statue into the room. If the walls would close in on them, the statue would hold them back, preventing the girls from getting crushed, hopefully... Sakaki was willing to give it a try. She pushed the statue into the room, and as soon as she crossed the tresshold, the walls grumbled and slowly started closing in. Sakaki left the statue in the middle of the room and ran for it, spectating what was going to happen now. When the walls clammed the statue, they stopped moving completely, but a strange crumbling sound filled the room. Sakaki cautiously walked through the tight space and attempted to push again, but it was stuck, held down by the walls pushing into it. The sculpture itself seemed to be holding though.

"What now? I can't move it anymore!"

"Maybe there's a way to bring the walls back again," Chiyo reasoned.

But there was another doorframe in the back, leading to the backside of the moving walls. Kagura peered inside and saw a small console in the back.

"Ohhh... I get it! There's a switch back there! I bet that brings the walls back in place. I'll go push it!"

"Hey, be careful okay? After you pushed it, run like hell or you'll be squashed!" Yomi pleaded.

Kagura moved to the back of the room and readied herself to sprint back. She pushed the button and ran as fast as she could. But nothing happened.

"Huh? It didn't work!"

Chiyo thought about this deeply and decided to try an experiment.

"Sakaki-san, could you come out of that room please?"

Sakaki agreed and joined the others again.

"Now try that again Kagura-san."

Kagura repeated the same process, and this time, the walls did move back.

"I get it!" Chiyo exclaimed.

"Motion detectors. It figures..." Yomi added.

"Okay, so let's look at the facts. The walls move as soon as you walk into the room, we can't push the statue when they are pressing against it and we can't bring them back until everyone is out of the room, so..."

"We have to do it in several turns, right?"

"Right!" Chiyo smiled.

"And we'd have to do it fast!" Tomo added. "There better be something good waiting for us."

So, Sakaki used this round to push the statue all the way to the back, she made it, but it was close. Kagura then pushed the button again and legged it out. Now, the most dangerous part followed. Sakaki had to sprint up to the sculpture and push it in place as fast as possible. She took a deep breath and dashed out. When she made it there, the walls were already on their way. She pressed her shoulder against the statue and pushed with all her might.

"Come on Sakaki! Faster!" Tomo shouted.

The side of the statue made contact with the wall, right before it fell into the socket and triggered a switch. The walls stopped moving and automatically slided back again. Right after that, a part of the red wall opened, revealing a small, secret corridor. Sakaki smiled and gave a thumbs up to the others.

It was only a small corridor with a cupboard and lights directly to their left and a dark little corner to their right. In this corner, there was a hole in the floor, leading down to another small corridor. It was quite dark down there, but at least there were some lights it seemed.

"Just perfect! A hole! Leading down to God only knows where! Who in his righteous mind would ever want to go down there?!" Yomi complained.

"Us?" Kagura smiled.

"Oh, you wanna go ahead? Be my guest!"

"Well, I would, but with my leg and all..."

"Right, so I vote that Tomo goes down there first! Who's with me?"

"W...what?!?!"

Tomo stared in horror as everyone else raised their hand, nodding in agreement.

"B-but...!"

"There you have it Tomo! You don't mind do you?" Yomi grinned viciously.

"Mind?! Uh, yeah! Like hell I'm going down there, what if there's a monster down there!?" Tomo barked.

"You're the wildcat aren't you? You can take care of it! Now in you go!"

Yomi gave Tomo a tap on the back. She ballanced on the edge of the hole, waving her arms to prevent her from falling down. But...

"Whoa!"

Luckily, she landed on her feet, but that prank didn't do her mood any good.

"Dammit Yomi! Are you losing it? I could have broken my neck and then I would've been dead!" she yelled.

"Oh cry me a river Tomo. What do you see?"

Tomo looked around and the first thing she noticed was the moss collected on the concrete walls. All the way in the back it was dark, but an old yellow light shone on something that seemed suspicious.

"It's clear. So come down here, or are you scared!" she shouted.

"Sorry Tomo, but look for a way out of there first. If there's none, we'll all be stuck down there, so chop chop!"

Tomo wanted to shout something really mean back to her, but clammed her mouth shut and just walked further into the corridor.

"Man, what did I do? Why is she acting all mean all of a sudden," she softly grumbled.

In the back, there was something on the floor, right below the lamp. It was something resembling a gravestone, and on top of it was a small old book, the pages and cover eroded by the humidity. It looked like it was there for a very long time, since a thick carpet of dust had collected on it. Tomo brushed off the dust and picked it up. It was a diary.

"What do we got here? It's an old diary! What's it doing here?"

She placed the book under her arm and found something else that tickled her interest. A small switch on the stone. Without thinking it through, she flipped it. The whole thing suddenly moved back. There was another black hole under it, the bottom being obstructed by darkness. However, this time there was at least a ladder to safely descend it. What she heard were the rythmic sounds of drops of water falling into puddles. Tomo clacked her tongue. Another dark hole...

"Guys! I think I found a way out! Come down here!" she yelled.

One by one, they jumped down the hole. When Kagura landed she hissed in pain, but assured everyone that she was okay. Her wounds were starting to hurt again.

Tomo handed the old book to Yomi, who proceeded to browse through the pages. There was a lot of text in it, but most noticably, when she checked the very first page, she caught a name that somehow was very familiar to her.

"George Trevor... Have I heard that name before?"

"Trevor..." Tomo thought about it, then shrugged. "Nope, never heard of it. But check this out!"

"Wow, another secret passage! That's actually pretty cool!" said Kagura.

"Sure is dark down there," uttered Osaka.

Yomi decided to take the diary with her. It could hold useful information, but reading it there was inconvenient since it was too dark.

"Alright, guess we're going down there. Lead the way Tomo."

"Why do I always lead the way? You know, if you were wearing a skirt I might not mind it that much!" she chirped.

Yomi wanted to pummel her good for this comment, but instead just gave her a smile. Quite a scary smile at that.

"Want me to give you another push Tomo?"

"Hehe, nah, I'm cool," laughed the now nervous wildcat, a sweatdrop forming over her head. Yomi would do it, she knew now.

Tomo climbed down the rusty ladder with a throbbing heart. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be going as deep as she though, only one floor. When she saw the floor, she hopped off the ladder and landed in a puddle of water with a splash. It was pitch black down there, except for the faint light coming from the top of the ladder. But as she peered further down the corridor, she couldn't distinguish anything. Not a wall, not a door, nothing.

"Whoa, it's really dark! No kidding! There could be a zombie right in front of me and I wouldn't notice!" she called up.

Tomo was too late to swallow her words. She remembered what happened last time she said something like that. It was time for her to bring back an old friend from its slumber. Her flashlight. She reached for it and flicked it on.

"Alright! Waterproof flashlight for the win!"

But when she saw what was on the wall in front of her, her eyes went big and she screamed in fear.

Tomo's sharp yelp didn't escape the others still standing above, and they looked down the ladder in panic. They saw Tomo, down on the floor, flashlight aimed to the wall.

"Tomo! What's wrong?!"

Tomo closed her eyes halfway and tried to calm down her heart. On the wall was a big housespider.

"It's...a spider..." she sighed. "Scared the hell outta me."

A shiver ran down her spine and she got up. She just wanted to shoot it, but that would have been a waste of ammo. Recollected and breathing deeply, she moved her flashlight to the right. Nothing there, just a wall. Then to the ceiling. She noticed a bunch of pipes running along it, but nothing else of interest. Then to her left, and...

"SON OF A...!!!"

"What is it now Tomo. Another spider?" Yomi shouted, almost sarcastically.

"YEAH!!!"

"You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I do!"

Before they knew it, Tomo was back up the ladder, panting and sweating like crazy.

"S-sorry, but I'm not doing it! There's more of them down there!"

"Spiders? How many?"

"I saw one against the wall to the left, and it was huge!" she exclaimed, a cold shiver running down her body.

"Just one?" asked Kagura.

"Yeah, but there may be more of them..."

"S-so... Any volunteers?" Yomi hacked.

"Yeah yeah, we'll do it, right Sakaki?"

Kagura looked at Sakaki like she was expecting her to perform a miracle, and Sakaki looked back at her, too embarressed to decline. But Kagura had stated that she hated spiders too, why was she the first to accept the offer? Reluctantly, she gulped and nodded. Since she had the best weapon against it, and since Tomo and Yomi were obviously held back by arachnophobia, she didn't really have a choice.

"Alright! We'll wipe out those spiders in no time, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you two don't pull the same trick you did last time. When they're dead, you're going through there too, got it?"

Yomi and Tomo looked at eachother nervously. Like they had a choice.

"O...okay..."

"I'll try..." Tomo muttered.

Kagura smiled satisfied. Tomo gave her the flashlight and both she and Sakaki descended into the darkness.

"Phew, sure is damp in here. You got that shotgun ready?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's get this over with!"

Kagura flicked on the flashlight, and before them, against the wall in the back, sat the giant arachnid, seemingly minding its own business. Its legs nearly spanned from the floor to the ceiling, and it had a grey color instead of a brown one.

"Oh Jesus! This one is even bigger than the last one!" Kagura whispered loudly.

"Shoot the abdomen, it's the weak spot!"

"Shoot the what?"

"The abdomen! The big part!"

"Oh, gotcha!"

Kagura aimed her magnum and landed a bullet in the abdomen. The force immediately blew it appart, splashing the brown sludge against the wall. The tarantula crashed to the floor and died the way every spider dies, the legs pulled in like a clenched fist.

"Too easy!"

The two walked past the corner, and there was another one, sitting on the floor this time. By the time it raised its front legs, Sakaki had already fired a shell into its carapace, blowing its body into pieces.

"Up!"

Kagura aimed her magnum upwards and blasted another one off the ceiling. It landed directly on top of the other. That was three, but they could hear more of them behind the corner. In fact, there was a T-junction here, so they temporarily split up. Kagura went to the right and Sakaki moved to the left. Kagura ran past another corner and found a dead end, and another giant spider latched to the ceiling. She didn't think twice and shot the creep in the abdomen, but some of the sludge landed on her.

"Ugh, not again!"

She did notice a small red book in a cardboard box in the corner. She picked it up and brushed the dust off it so she could read what was on the cover.

"Last Book Volume 1?"

Sakaki found another source of light and a door, but no more spiders apparently. She couldn't leave the corridor alone, but just peeked through the door. There was yet another hallway, but she couldn't see far into it since it made a turn only a few meters into it. She shut the door again, right before her partner caught up with her. Kagura showed her the strange book, but what she found the weirdest about it was its weight. It weighed more than any regular book of that size, leading her to believe that there was something else inside it. She opened it up about halfway and uncovered a large, round medallion, placed in a square hole cut out of the pages. It was a golden medal with the image of an eagle carved on it. She took it out and investigated it further. There was nothing else of interest, but the item seemed to be important somehow. Since the book was only volume 1, she thought that perhaps there might be another one. Suddenly she dropped the book to the floor and her heart skipped a beat. A rush of fear shot through her body and the cold sweat broke through her pores. She felt something crawling up her leg, and in a place like this, it couldn't be anything good. Without thinking, she turned around and kicked her leg frantically. Whatever was on her was now gone, but she did grab Sakaki's attention, and startled her too.

"What? What's wrong!?"

"There was something on my frikkin leg!" she exclaimed.

She shone her flashlight around and saw the perpetrator on the floor before her. It was just another small spider, but it sure managed to scare the living daylight out of her. Kagura grunted and stepped towards it to place her foot on it, but when she shone her light a little further, she quickly changed her mind.

"What the hell...?"

--

It had been while since the rest of the group heard the last gunshot coming from below, so it was now very quiet. They just wondered what took those two so long. They should have taken care of the giant freaks by now, so why weren't they coming back?

"Should we go down and see if they're alright?" Chiyo mused.

Yomi hummed and stook her head down the hole, ready to call out her comrads' names. But then, something tickled her face and she pulled back swiftly. She scratched her cheek and stood up. Out of the hatch, a hairy spider crawled, causing Yomi to shriek out loud.

"Argh! That thing fucking touched my face! Kill it! Kill the damn creep!" she panicked.

Osaka closed in on it and stomped her foot on it, crunching it under her shoe, leaving behind a big stain of hemolymph.

"Oh man, if there's something I find disgusting, it's this. I hate spiders!" Tomo winced.

But then came another one, followed by a third, and a fourth, and so on. In the end, dozens of these smaller spiders came crawling up the hole, creating a swarm of the squirming arachnids, ready to attack the girls. The four took a few steps back and realized that they had to get out of there somehow.

"Oh my God, this isn't happening! This has got to be my worst nightmare!" cried Yomi.

"There's so many of them... We have to get out of here!" Chiyo yelled.

Since Yomi was the tallest and the strongest among them, she stood faced away from the wall and hands ready to give everyone a boost back up the hole. Tomo went first and pushed herself up the edge, then Osaka, and lastly Chiyo. But they were taking too long, and Yomi was still down there, the army quickly closing in on her. She passed her grenade launcher up first, then jumped up, reaching for Tomo and Osaka's hand. But she was still too short and couldn't reach them. She tried again and again, but to no avail.

"Come on Yomi! You can do it!" yelled Tomo.

"Jump higher!" Osaka added.

Yomi gazed at the spiders crawling up to her terrified. As if her fear of spiders wasn't bad enough, she realized that just one bite of these freaks could be enough to kill her in the long run if they were indeed infected.

"I...I can't! I can't do it!" she whimpered.

"That's bullshit Yomi! You just have to jump a little higher and we got you!"

Tomo's words didn't get time to cool down. When the first spider reached Yomi's foot, she gave the world's loudest screech, and more out of fear than out of wilpower, she made a jump so high that it would make the regular olympic athlete jealous. Tomo grabbed her by the wrist and started pulling her up.

"Gotcha! C'mon Osaka, pull!"

Tomo and Osaka pulled Yomi up the hole, not very smoothly, but good enough. But now, nothing was stopping the spiders to come crawling up again, so they weren't safe yet. Yomi gave a word of appreciation and grabbed her grenade launcher. The four ran out of the corridor, through the large room and back into the room with the fireplace. It crossed their minds that they left two of their friends down in that basement, but they didn't have a choice. They could only hope that they were alright.

--

"Oh shit! Where did all these come from?!"

Kagura and Sakaki stared at the swarm of spiders crawling all over the walls and floor, coloring them black, making soft and chaotic creaking sounds. They were only a few inches big, but there were literally hundreds of them. If they got caught by this horde, their lives would be in serious danger. Kagura made several attempts to call out to her friends, but she got no response. They either couldn't hear her, or had already fled. They saw no possible way through, so they only had one way left to go.

"This isn't good Kagura, we have to get out of here!"

They forcefully evacuated the corridor through the door behind them and slammed it shut. Both of them felt their skin crawl and got the sudden urge to scratch themselves all over. That was one of those things they hoped they would never have to see. Quite possibly ever man's worst nightmare.

"Dammit! I think I actually had a dream about that once. I never thought I would actually see it," Kagura shuddered.

"You can expect to see everything here I guess," her taller friend said.

"Well, come on, let's go. We'll have to catch up with the others somewhere."

They walked through the new corridor, which was alot more illuminated than the last, but did have a whole lot more puddles all over the floor. Aside from the dripping of water, everything was ominously quiet. When they crossed the corner to the right, they found another T-junction, one path going ahead and one going left. They decided to go straight ahead first, and there, it looked like it had been raining in. The whole floor was covered with water, one giant puddle. There was yet another corner to the left, and in there it was pitch black, only the sparks coming from some sort of electrical device litted it up slightly. Kagura was taking the lead, a few meters before Sakaki, something she would regret soon after. As she peered into the hallway, it became obvious that something was blocking the light coming from the sparks. Something shaped as a human. Then, some splashes, coming at her fast, and before she even knew it, she was too late. She got grabbed by the shoulders and pushed against the wall, two rows of decayed teeth lunging for her troath and glassy, dead eyes staring right into hers. Pushing away was pointless, but she managed to kick the ghoul's leg, making it trip, but it didn't help much. In a flash, the mandible sunk in her left upper arm and cut through her flesh like a knife cutting through butter. Kagura immediately felt the sharp, throbbing pain acting up, but she didn't make much more of a sound than a small whimper. In reality, she held back, because she really wanted to scream. The zombie pulled back and tore at her arm like a wild animal, and it wouldn't take long until it literally took a chunk right out of her. Sakaki intervened just in time and punched the zombie on the cheek hard, making it let go. She then hit its face with the handle of her shotgun and threw it to the floor. The monster landed in the puddle and got shredded by a spreadshot of hail next. The force of the blast tore its rotten body in two, and the clotted blood dissolved in the water, turning it crimson red.

Kagura leaned against the wall with her right hand covering the wound. Blood ran down her arm in several streams and dripped off her fingertips. When she removed her hand to take a look at it, the two rows were firmly imprinted in her flesh. The teeth went all the way in, and it was a miracle that the chunk was still there. All around the bitewound, her arm was swollen and the flesh was seemingly forced upwards. The lacerations were bleeding heavily and the pain was nearly unbearable. Both of them knew what this meant, but none of them wanted to say a word. Kagura gave Sakaki a look that was a crossing between anger and defeat.

"Kagura... You... I-I mean, you're..."

Kagura shook her head and stood straight. "Don't say it. I already know..."

"But..."

"I was already bitten you know? By the shark. This only makes it official."

She found her flashlight, turned it on and walked into the dark section of the corridor. There was an electricity box on the wall to the left that was emitting the sparks and a bunch of rusty barrels in the right corner. Apparently, one of the fuses was blown out of the box, resulting in a loss of power for the elevator. Kagura remembered seeing an elevator door in the dark hallway, so if she could fix this, they might be able to use it. Sakaki was still giving her that worried look, and Kagura noticed it. She looked at her wound and didn't know what to think herself.

"Look, I just don't wanna talk about it. We'll see, I guess..." she sighed. "Can you put this fuse back? There's blood on my hands and I don't want to be electrocuted on top of all this."

Sakaki looked down to the ground and decided to let it be for now. However, she was still going to take care of that wound, even if she had to force her.

"Sure..."

Kagura gave a meek smile and walked back into the illuminated corridor. She looked down to the torn up zombie and didn't feel any sympathy for it. As her own blood spilled on the corpse, she felt like she was staring at her own fate. It made her feel sick to her stomach, but she had to face it. Soon, she would become one of them.

* * *

Wata : Look what I brewed up for you guys. Pretty much all of this were fresh ideas and made up on the spot. Simply because I didn't really plan anything out for this part. Yes, poor Kagura is infected, but that may not have been a surprise to some. Her fate? It's all up here in my head, but you guys will have to wait for it. She may die, or she may not. Here's something to lose your sleep over! XD

Kagura : This is just an insurance to make your readers keep reading huh?

Tomo : That's genius!

Wata : You think? Some people call it torture.

Osaka : I already wanna know what happens next!

Wata : Oh I bet you do! Just stay tuned for the next installment! (I used the F-word twice in this chapter! whoa!)


	19. Haunting Wails

_Chapter 19, finally done ._

_Before we start, I want to say that I find it quite amazing that, judging by the reviews I got for the last chapter, pretty much everyone is very worried about what happened (or will happen) to Kagura. Strange, because that event was actually a last minute decision! Apparently, it was a good one :/ XD._

_But that's still quite cool ya know? It's nice to see people getting so sympathetic about her. I guess this makes writing this stuff worth while._

_Anyway! Let's get to it!_

_I do not own Azu or Resi, blah blah blah._

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 19 : Haunting Wails

Outside, where the weather seemed to have turned back to normal, the relatively warm breeze slowly transformed into a more chilly one. Dark clouds once again crawled in and clotted the starry sky. Those clouds spat out small drops of rain, gradually getting bigger and more numerous. In the distance, the sky started grumbling angrily, and sudden, bright white flashes were visible. Just when they thought at least the weather was in their favor, the second thunderstorm of the night was already on its way. Osaka stared out of the broken window on the second floor corridor. She could clearly see the nasty clouds on the horizon and the electric discharges they were giving off.

"Another thunderstorm..." she sighed.

"So, what do we do now?" Chiyo inquired.

"Well, assuming Kagura and Sakaki find a way out of there, they'd probably head for the main hall," reasoned Yomi. "So, we'll just go there and wait for them."

"Yeah, good idea, but first...I ehh..."

Yomi, Osaka and Chiyo turned their heads at Tomo, who sounded like she was about to make a serious statement. Tomo stood there with her legs pressed against eachother and her feet bouncing off the floor.

"Well, the thing is...I really gotta pee!" she cried.

"What? So suddenly?" Yomi spoke, with a sweatdrop forming over her head.

"Yeah, so suddenly! I'm sorry, I just never get a decent warning. It just comes up and-"

"Alright, alright! We'll go down to the bathroom first, then head back to the hallway."

As soon as the last word came from Yomi's lips, Tomo was already on her way. She stumbled down the stairs and raced out of the room.

"Hey! Don't go by yourself you knucklehead!"

Yomi facepalmed and began her pursuit, her two companions following her.

"Sorry! Coming through!" Tomo yelled at the lifeless bodies of the Hunters and the zombies in her way. Like her behind had caught on fire, she blasted into the corridor where the bathroom was. She dashed passed the corner, and the second, and the third, and finally the fourth and swung open the door and slammed it shut. After a few seconds, a satisfying "Aahhhh" sounded from the room. Apparently, it was more urgent than anyone could have guessed.

--

The fuse had been set in place and the two separated girls had made it out of the basement corridor. The path lead them back to the mansion's kitchen, and Sakaki figured this would be the best place to take care of Kagura's wound. Carefully, she dipped the drenched cotton on the bitemark.

"Auwch..."

Kagura leaned on the center table with her lower back. As soon as the alcohol made contact with her arm, she twitched and hissed. The blood seeping out of the still throbbing wound had spilled on her shirt and had colored it red. Though she didn't want to look, she couldn't keep her eyes off it, nor could she stop thinking about it. It all happened so fast, and there was nothing she could have done to protect herself. She was angry at herself, but also a little dissapointed. Why couldn't she have been more cautious...

"Sakaki... This may sound completely nuts but...let's not tell the others about this."

Sakaki stopped for a moment and looked up at her confused, her eyes filled to the brim with questions.

"I just don't want to be a burden. If we told them, they would just get worried about me and I'd only slow them down. Besides, it doesn't matter if they know or not..."

Sakaki knew she had to protest. There was no way this girl could actually be serious about this. "No Kagura, I can't do that! What if there's an antidote? Maybe we can still-"

"Oh come on!" Kagura snapped. "An antidote? Do you actually believe that? And what if there is one? By the time we find it, it would probably already be too late for me anyway!"

Sakaki stood up and had to fight the urge to slap some sense into her. Instead, she just gave her a stringent look. Kagura pressed her hand against her forehead and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry... I just..."

Sakaki spotted a small tear running down Kagura's cheek. Her whole body started trembling, and slowly but steadily, she broke down crying.

"I don't wanna... I don't wanna become one of them..."

Sakaki watched the girl's eyes overflowing with tears, and it was way more than she could handle. She clenched her fist in despair and pulled the girl in for a tight embrace. She wished she could say something to her, but when she needed them the most, words escaped her.

"I don't wanna turn into a zombie... I'm scared... Sakaki-san..." she sobbed loudly.

More than anything, Sakaki wanted to tell her that she was going to be okay. She wanted to promise that to her, but she couldn't. She didn't know what to do anymore. Her friend's life was in peril and she felt powerless to help her. Yet, there was still something she could promise, something she already made her mind up about. She held Kagura's shocking body and placed her head on her shoulder.

"If there is an antidote, we'll find it, I promise!" she said softly.

Kagura weeped and whimpered. Completely shaken and bewildered, she grabbed the back of Sakaki's shirt tightly and let the tears stream richly onto it. She tried to free her mind, but all she saw was herself, dead but still walking, her skin turned a faint, putrid green and her eyes blurry and cold. Then, she saw her own friends, their throats torn out, and herself on top of their corpses, ripping their flesh from bone with her teeth, satisfying her own thirst for blood and hunger for meat. A living dead body, doomed to walk for all eternity, without any thoughts or emotions, just like all the people in this God forsaken mansion. That's all she could think about. No salvation, no hope. She didn't want that to happen. She had rather dropped dead, right there and then. If she had to die, she wanted to die for good. Just a bullet through her head and she could truly be at peace.

"Sakaki-san," she blubbered after about a minute of silence. "Please... Please, promise you don't tell them. I'll tell them later,...but not now..."

Sakaki stared in Kagura's bloodshot eyes. Eyes that were so sincere and begging that Sakaki couldn't possibly bring herself to decline her request. No matter how foolish it was to her, she carefully nodded.

"Okay... I promise..."

Kagura broke from the hug and wiped the tears away. "Thank you..."

"But what are you going to tell them? They're still going to see that you got hurt."

She was right. Kagura's shirt was slowly getting soaked with red, and the bandages after the treatment would stand out way too much.

"I'll think of something..." she sniffed, cracking a little smile. "Now, carry on..."

--

With a grin so satisfied and quirky that it was rarely seen even on the Wildcat's face, Tomo waltzed back out of the bathroom.

"Aah man! That was good! Seriously!" she chirped happily.

Osaka held herself busy with playing soccer with the dog head on the floor, while Chiyo tried to persuade her to stop it and telling her that it wasn't such a good idea. Yomi, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looked rather irritated and tapped her finger on her arm.

"Well, you sure took your sweet time! What took you so long?"

"Oh Yomi, don't you know not to interfere with another lady's personal business? It's very rude," she laughed in a taunting manner, leaning her arm on her taller friend's shoulder.

"And don't you know not to run off by yourself?" she snarled back. "There could be a monster around every corner! What if there were more Hunters here?"

"Well, I had to go really really bad!"

"What sounds better to you? Wetting yourself or getting your head chopped off."

Tomo hummed and thought about this for a few seconds.

"Well, the first would have been more embarrassing..." she answered with a smile.

"Imagine both at the same time... That would be both gruesome and embarrassing!"

Yomi, Tomo and Chiyo awkwardly turned their heads to the direction of the person who made that...disturbing comment, none other than Osaka, who was still poking the decapitated head with her foot. Suddenly, everyone had that image in their heads, and they didn't know wether it was supposed to be funny or downright gutwrenching. Yomi literally shook it out of her mind in the hope to not get a nervous breakdown.

Just outside the mansion, a whole murder of crows sat peacefully in a tree, only to suddenly start flapping their wings and fly up startled. At the same time, a strolling zombie dog jumped up and looked around nervously. It growled a little, then minded its own business again like nothing ever happened. All this because of a roaring voice coming from inside the mansion, somewhere in a corridor. It yelled the following.

"YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL HOPELESS!!!"

After that sudden eruption, Yomi coughed and regained her composure. She would never get immune to the idiocy coming from these knuckleheads, no matter how much she was exposed to it.

"Does anyone else have to go? We're not coming back here, so now's your chance," she said hoarsly, as calm as she could. Noone answered. They just stared at her with eyes wide open. Yomi uncrossed her arms and sighed.

"Alright, I'm going then. Wait here..."

Chiyo, Tomo and Osaka looked at eachother as the door fell shut, trying to figure out what just happened. All of them looked like they just saw a ghost.

"Whoa, did anyone else hear that?" Osaka spoke, eyes still wide.

Tomo brought her hand to her ear. "You'll have to speak up Osaka, my ears are ringing and I'm afraid I might be deaf now!"

"It was...just a big screech, like a grenade going off next to my ear, and then...just buzzing..." Chiyo shivered. "I never heard something so scary before!"

"It's like I thought! Mount Mizuhara just blew up and we have to get out of here!" Tomo yelled loudly.

Suddenly, from inside the bathroom, a voice sounded, annoyed as ever.

"I heard all that you know!"

The remaining three just bursted out laughing.

After about a minute, Tomo gently turned the knob of the door and pulled it open. At her feet was the beheaded corpse of a zombie dog, with a few chunks taken out of it. She remembered when this happened. The dog had gotten its head stuck between the door and the frame, and Sakaki and Kagura had forcefully snapped it off. Judging from the cadaver, the rest of them had probably used it as food. The corridor was empty and quiet, but the corner made it hard to tell if the coast was clear.

"You think they're still here?" Tomo whispered through her teeth.

"Don't know. Better be careful," Yomi whispered back.

With their hearts throbbing out of their chests, the four girls sneaked through the corridor, guns ready for action. They stepped over the glass shards from the broken window without making too much noise and peered outside. It was pitch black out, but they saw that the rain was getting heavier once again. Strong and cold winds billowed through the opening, but nothing but the trees and bushes appeared to be moving. Now, they stood just by the corner. Tension and blood pressure rose, but Tomo was feeling lucky. With a jank, she jumped around the corner with her Beretta at shoulder height.

"Aww man! All that buildup for nothing! They're gone!" she cried, slightly dissapointed.

"What are you talking about? That's a good thing!" Yomi reasoned.

"Yeah, but it's been so long since I last shot something!"

"I really don't get you sometimes, you know?"

Osaka and Chiyo opened the door leading back to the gallery, while Tomo and Yomi trailed behind, bickering about how Tomo had to grow up and take these things a bit more serious, and that Yomi had to lighten up and stop being so grim all the time. Just the usual business between those two, so Chiyo and Osaka payed no real heed to it. From the first look, the gallery was clear, so they immediately headed for the double door leading back to the main hall. Once there, they sat themselves on the giant stairway in the center. Now, they could only wait, hoping to see their two lost friends show up anytime soon.

It had been a while since they last set foot into this hall. In fact, it was the very first room they entered after they had to flee the forest. Although it was only a bunch of hours ago, it felt like they were trapped for an eternity already. Although the main hall breathed out an atmosphere of safety at first glance, they knew by now that it was false, and nothing was stopping those monsters from entering. Yet, it was always clear for some reason. Maybe those creatures preferred to hide in the darkness after all. Yomi sat down on the stairs about halfway up and pulled out the old book Tomo found in the ditch, since this was the best opportunity to read it. She flicked through the old and worn out pages, and she staggered when she saw the dates on the diary's entries. 1967. The diary was over 30 years old! That meant that it must have been down there for all that time, and they were the first to find it! But what was it doing there? Already bothered, Yomi started reading. She only got past the first entry and came to a conclusion. This diary could hold some of the secrets of the ghosthouse that they found themselves trapped in. No matter what, the others had to hear this too.

Yomi was about to speak up when the door leading to the dining room suddenly opened. Out of reflex, Tomo and Osaka jumped up and held their handguns ready the moment they heard the doorknob turning. One could never be careful enough in a place like this. But instead of a monster, they saw two very familiar faces.

"Kagura! Sakaki! You made it!" Tomo cheered.

Kagura looked up at the stairs and was clearly relieved to see her friends safe and sound. "Hi guys! You didn't happen to run into a little spider problem did you?" she smiled.

"Sure did," was Osaka's answer.

"Wh...what happened?" Chiyo asked with a shake in her voice.

"I don't know! Suddenly those things were everywhere and we had to-"

"No, I mean what happened to you? Your arm..." the little girl interrupted, pointing at the bandage and the blood on her shirt.

Kagura fell silent for a moment as her gaze went down to the wound. "Oh...this? Don't worry about it. It was dark down there, and while we were running away, I couldn't see where I was going. My arm got caught on something sharp, probably a nail or something. It was bleeding like crazy I tell you!" she replied as convincing as she could, with a little chuckle at the end of her sentence.

Yomi pulled a questioning expression and frowned her eyebrows. "A cutwound huh? Did Sakaki take care of it?"

Sakaki, who was looking down to the floor, looked up at Yomi's question and nodded quickly. "Ah, yes. It wasn't all that bad."

Sakaki could almost feel Yomi's suspicion brewing up. The bespectacled girl gave them both a long and intruding stare, almost like she knew what was going on, or at least suspected something. More than anything, Sakaki wanted to come clean and tell them, but she made a promise. Suddenly, Yomi's mouth curved to a warm smile.

"Well, good to see you made it back somewhat safely. In fact, you're just in time for the lecture."

"A lecture?" Tomo blurted. "This isn't the time to be tutoring us Yomi."

"Not that kind of lecture you numbnut! I mean there's something that you should hear. It's about this diary."

"So what about it?" Kagura questioned as she sat down on the stairs.

"You wanna guess how old it is?"

"ten years!" Tomo shouted.

"fifteen!" Osaka joined.

"My money's on twenty!" boomed Kagura.

"You guys can turn anything into a game huh?" Yomi sighed. "You're all wrong. More than thirty years, thirty-five to be exact. All entries date all the way back to November 1967."

This was hard for the girls to comprehend. 35 years! That was when even their parents were still kids, and so many years before they were born. Yomi cleared her troath and started reading out loud.

_November 24, 1967. Eleven days have past since arriving on this estate. How did I end up like this? A guy in a lab coat came with a plate of skimpy meal and said to me, "Sorry to put you through this, but it's for security reasons." That's when it hit me. It all makes sense now. There are only two people that know the secret of this mansion, Sir Spencer and myself. If they kill me, Sir Spencer will be the only person that knows the secret. But for what purpose? It doesn't matter now. It's too dangerous here. My family... I hope they are all right. I've decided to escape... Jessica, Lisa, I pray you are safe._

_November 26, 1967. How could I be so careless? I lost my favorite lighter–the one Jessica gave me for my birthday. Now it's going to be that much harder to get out this dark place._

_Nov. 13th, the date when my fate was sealed. My aunt was hospitalized just three days before that. Jessica and Lisa said that they were going to visit her. I wish I could be there with them. But wait, even as I'm writing my memory is coming back to me more vividly. Just before I passed out, I remember the men in the lab coats said something like, "Most likely your family is already..." I pray for their safety._

Yomi paused for a minute, letting the words sink in, while all the others were hanging from her lips like she was reading them a scary story. Out of curiosity, Yomi searched through her pouches until she found the lighter. She didn't see anything on first glance, but after a further examination, she noticed a small message carved into it. "Love : Jessica."

Yomi clenched the lighter in her fist and wiped the sweat off her forehead. With a shaky voice, she continued.

_November 27, 1967. Somehow I managed to get out that room. But getting out of this mansion won't be as easy. I have to get past all the booby–traps. Tiger eyes, Gold Emblem... I have to try and remember for my own sake._

_November 29, 1967. I can't get out. I have tried every possible way to escape but only to be faced with the reality that I'm trapped. I've been everywhere. The laboratory with the large glass tubes filled with formaldehyde and those dark, wet and eerie caves... What can I do? At first I didn't want to believe my eyes. But that familiar high- heeled shoe in the corridor... It was like reflex. One name came to my mind, Jessica! I don't want to believe they share the same fate as me. No! I can't give up hope. I have to hope they're alive._

_November 30, 1967. I haven't had anything to eat or drink for the past few days. I feel like I'm going crazy. Why is this happening to me? Why do I have to die like this? I was too obsessed with designing this ghastly mansion. I should have known better._

_November 31, 1967. It was a dark and damp underground tunnel. And another dead end. But even in the darkness something caught my eye. Carefully, I lit the last match, I had to see what it was. A grave! But deeply engraved into the stone was my name! _

_"George Trevor"_

_At that instant, it all became clear to me. Those bastards knew from the beginning that I'd die here and I fell right into their trap. But it's too late now. I'm losing it. Everything is becoming so far away. Jessica... Lisa... Forgive me. Because of my ego, I got both of you involved in this whole damn conspiracy. Forgive me. May god justify my death in exchange for your safety._

Like the last article suggested, all the following pages were blank. After this, the man probably died. Yomi closed the diary and placed it on her lap. She fell silent and starting thinking deeply, her hands folded in front of her mouth.

"So, there's no way out of here huh...?" an unusually troubled Tomo spoke up. "We're really stuck here..."

Yomi didn't say anything. She knew that Tomo realised that it was her fault, but they had already talked about this. What bothered her mostly was that Tomo might be right. If this man searched for days and days for a way out and failed, how were they ever going to escape? Fleeing into the forest was out of the question, but there had to be another way. What also disturbed her were the inhuman acts that the people formerly in charge of this place were involved in. This led her to the conclusion that these people were even worse than the monsters they created. But where exactly did Umbrella come in... Were they responsible for everything, or did they just have a finger in the pie. They were still left in the dark, even though Yomi was sure she had found the missing jigsaw piece. There was no mention of the mysterious company, nor was there any word of why the mansion was built the way it was. As if that wasn't mindboggling enough, there was still the 'secret of this mansion' part. What did he mean by that? The laboratory? That's the only possibility she could think of. Something very important must be down there, or something very horrible. Against her better judgement, she concluded that they simply had to find a way down there if they wanted to figure out what really happened. But even if they did find out, it wouldn't do them any good if they couldn't escape alive. And that was what worried her the most in the end, so much that she even played with the thought of giving up.

Meanwhile, Kagura was wrestling with thoughts of her own. Along with the terrible things she just heard, that name kept echoing through her head, over and over.

"George Trevor... George Trevor..."

She was certain that she heard that name somewhere before, but she simply couldn't remember where or when.

"Maybe there's a way out of here that he missed!" Osaka suddenly said. "Like, underground or something!"

"Yes, a sewer system or something! There has to be some way!" Chiyo agreed.

"I don't know... I just don't know anything anymore..." Yomi said on the edge of sobbing.

Kagura's eyes were now wide open. She suddenly remembered, all because of what Osaka just said. "Underground..." she silently repeated. That was the keyword she was looking for. Without a warning, she stood up and ran up the stairs, towards the door leading to the cemetery.

"H-hey Kagura! Where're ya going?" Tomo yelled after her, getting a nod from the tanned girl in response, telling the others to follow her. Tomo shrugged and followed her out.

"It's raining out there you know!" Osaka shouted.

"Damn, let's just follow them. It looks important enough," Yomi sighed while getting up.

The rain wasn't nearly as bad as the first time she got there, and Kagura was grateful for that. She stood in front of the long stairway leading all the way down to the crypt and started her descend. In the crypt, it was still as hot as before, but now there was also that foul, strong stench. Kagura held her hand in front of her mouth and nose to stop her from gagging. She steered clear of the molten corpse and walked towards the casket.

"Oh Jesus!" Tomo cried as soon as she entered the catacomb and was knocked back by the horrible smell. Her eyes fell onto the half molten corpse stuck to the floor. As far as she could tell, that used to be a Crimson Head. The acid had dried up and left an orange tinted circle on the floor. The smell was a mix of strong sulfur, old blood and decomposed flesh, and was by far the worst she had ever smelled. Not only that, but the mere sight of the corpse was enough to turn ones stomach upside down. Tomo held her nose and marched up to Kagura. The rest of the girls had about the same reaction when they entered.

"Oh man! What the hell happened here?!" Tomo winced.

"Acid grenade. My fault, sorry!" Yomi explained in a nutshell. "Why are we here anyway?"

Kagura was crouching by the casket and held the lid in her hands. She slowly stood up, much to the rest's confusion, and showed them the upper side of the lid. For several seconds, they stood gawking at it, not knowing what to say, then looked at what was left of the Crimson Head corpse. Or, George Trevor's corpse would have been more appropriate. His name was on the casket lid. The mansion's architect, now nothing but a little pool on the floor. All of a sudden, the mansion got a whole new face, one so ugly that it could freak out bravest of the brave. This man, who helped Spencer to build his estate, was not only trapped and left to die, but was used as a test subject as well. What they were looking at might as well have been the very first Crimson Head ever created, so many years ago. Now everyone came to the same agreement. The history of this house is one of undisputed evil and cruelty, one that was never heard of before and one that chilled the girls to the bone.

"D...dammit..." was the only thing that Yomi could utter.

Kagura threw the lid to the ground, not knowing if she should feel proud or horrified for making such a discovery. Her legs felt like they were made of jelly and she bit the nail on her left thumb nervously. She felt sick and angry, and before she would cease, she wanted to make someone pay.

"G...guys..." Tomo started in a stammering fashion. "W-we gotta outta here! Now!"

Yomi looked at her shorter friend, who now had an expression of horror stuck on her face. Clearly, the girl was having a panic attack. "Tomo...? What's wrong?"

"Wh...what if we turn out just like him? What if they're gonna use us as lab rats too?!"

"Tomo-chan, get a grip. We're not getting out of here until we find a way" said Chiyo.

Tomo took a few steps back, her body visibly trembling. "F...fuck that! I say we run for it! We run back to the city through the forest and blast the shit out of everything that gets in our way!"

"No we don't Tomo! That's suicide!" Yomi snapped back. "We're staying here, we figure out what's going on and we find an alternative way out."

"And do you know another way out?!"

Yomi clenched her fist and looked down to the ground. "I... No...I don't..."

"I thought so. You read the diary with your own eyes, there is no way out of here except for the front doors. It's our best chance, and with our weapons, we could shoot those freaks into oblivion!"

"Tomo-chan has a point. We managed to get here on foot, so maybe we can make it back on foot too, now with our guns and all," Osaka added.

"You see? Besides, it's not like it's much safer here than it is out there. We can make it, I'm sure!"

Although Yomi didn't like to admit it, there was some truth in Tomo's words. It definitely wasn't safe inside the mansion either, and if they could give it one last effort, they might just make it outside the dangerzone. If they could make it back to the city and show the evidence on the camcorder to the authorities, they could still do something to help uncover the mystery of the mansion. Yomi grimaced and sighed deeply. She figured the only way to come to an agreement was to call votes.

"Okay, all in favor of Tomo's idea, raise your hand."

Both Osaka and Chiyo slowly raised their hands, while Sakaki and Kagura remained silent.

"Well, this isn't helping... We're tied."

"Come on you guys! It may be our only chance!" Tomo cried.

Kagura, who was still giving herself a manicure with her teeth, stared into nothingness for a little while, then shook her head. "No... I'm sorry Tomo. I'm not running away. I want to stay and fight!"

"What?! Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I want to know what happened here and I want to make the ones responsible pay. I can't just turn my back like that after all that I've seen and heard. Sorry, but I made up my mind. But if Sakaki-san changes her mind, I'll shut up and go with it," she spoke with a slight smile.

Sakaki looked at Kagura with disbelief after those last words. Was she for real? If Sakaki agreed to Tomo's plan now, Kagura would just go with it and leave together with the rest. But that would mean that she would... And the fact that she just said that with a smile led her to believe that Kagura was willing to sacrifice herself for her friends. In just a blink, Sakaki became aware that she now held Kagura's fate in her hands. How she had to fight the urge to give away the secret only Kagura and she knew. The others would quickly change their minds about this matter, especially Tomo, since they are good friends after all. Her memories phazed back to what Kagura said a few hours ago. "These people are already dead. They just turned into something I don't think they wanted to be. I think we're doing them a favor by killing them. I would ask for the same thing...I think." Sakaki shivered at the thought. Even if she decided to stay, but couldn't find an antidote...someone, or even she, would have to kill her.

"Hey, Sakaki! I'm talking to you!"

Sakaki snapped back to reality by Tomo's voice and got a dazed look on her face. She had to make a decision now. Either leave with everyone else, but destroy all hope for Kagura, or stay and look for an antidote, putting everyone in jeopardy, potentially even bigger than what they've encountered so far.

"What's it gonna be? Stay or leave?"

"I...I ehh..."

Everyone stood around the tall and silent girl in suspense, looking at her with piercing eyes, making her as nervous as she's ever been.

"I...I want to leave..." she uttered silently.

Tomo sighed in relief and did a small victory dance. Soon, she and her friends would be out of there, back to the city, back to the hotel to finally get some sleep. She was getting excited just thinking about it.

"See Yomi! I told you it was the best idea!"

"Well then, so be it I guess... You win Tomo."

Kagura closed her eyes and smiled meekly. Even though she was supposed to be sad, she felt happy deep inside. She would help her friends to get out of the forest to the best of her abilities, but she knew she couldn't go back to the city with them. She would have to die, or else something even more terrible could happen. Hell, maybe they could use her body as extra evidence, then she could still be useful even after death. After all, she was supposed to have died once before, but now she could go out without feeling regrets. Afterlife was a nice place, as she had seen, so she didn't feel sad anymore. She just accepted it as the best solution.

"But...but I can't..."

Kagura's eyes flung open and she blinked a few times rapidly, sharing about the same reaction as everybody else. What did she mean she can't? She got this feeling in her gut that Sakaki was about to give away her secret.

"Whaddaya mean?" Tomo blurted confused. "Why not?"

"I agree with Kagura. Everything that happened here just makes me...angry...! I don't want to run away and act like nothing happened."

"B-b-but Sakaki-san..."

"Don't you remember what happened to you Tomo-chan? In the cabin? Doesn't that make you feel angry? Or after what happened to Kagura in the Aqua Ring? Or Chiyo-chan with Plant 42? Or...this poor man here..."

Sakaki pointed towards the body of George Trevor. Tomo, Osaka and Chiyo bowed their heads down and stared at the floor, realising that Sakaki had a point.

"I want to get out of here, but not without knowing what happened, so we can make those who are responsible pay for their deeds, and bring this story out to the public. Right now, we are the only ones who can do that. I once vowed to myself that I shouldn't keep running away and face everything head on. I guess I have to keep that vow... I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving."

After this speech that no one saw coming from the usually quiet Sakaki, there were a few moments of silence.

"I ehh... I would like to change my vote...if that's alright with you..." Osaka said softly.

"Yeah, me too..." Chiyo followed up.

"Well, since it was my first intend, I also side with Sakaki-san." Yomi added.

Now, they only needed one confirmation and the agreement would be universal, but that had to come from the one who started the whole discussion. Everyone, including Kagura, tried to pry an answer from Tomo by looking at her almost intrudingly. The wildcat clacked her tongue and giggled nervously.

"What? What are you all staring at me like that for? I lost, didn't I? Nothing I can do about it now. I still think my idea was good, but...well...if everyone feels that way, I guess I'll shut my mouth. But...just one thing!"

Everybody got this feeling of 'oh boy, here it comes' the moment those last words left Tomo's mouth.

"We have a lot of work to do, so let's get the hell out of this stinking tomb because I can't take another minute of this smell!" she shouted.

Finally something coming from Tomo that everyone could agree on. They had been down there for quite some time and they were amazed that no one had passed out from the stench yet. It was about time they headed back for the main hall and continue the investigation. There were still some doors that were left unopened, and probably more areas that had to be explored. While exiting the catacomb and abandoning the disfigured body of the mansion's architect, Kagura gave a smile to Sakaki as to say 'thank you'. Sakaki got the message and, at her turn, smiled back, hiding her worries that were so prominently present inside her. Her objective was clear. Find an antidote for Kagura as fast as possible.

* * *

Wata : Never before was a chapter in production as long as this one, and I apologize for that. But there is something unique about this chapter. Did you notice? Absolutely no monster encounters in this chapter! None! No action! Not even a zombie! This whole chapter was about plot development and character building, nothing more! Kinda strange that I managed to squeeze almost 6000 words into it without one single gunshot. But I guess that's not such a bad thing :). I just want to show that I'm trying to put more into it than just a regular zombie fest, and that's why it's my most important story to date. Well, I still hope you enjoyed it nonetheless (even though, for some reason, my confidence is leaving me lately T-T), and I assure you there will be more action in the next ones. Oh, by the way! I made a wink to nightfall07 because she made a very sharp remark in her review on the previous chapter, one that I didn't realise myself. XD If you are reading this (and I bet you are :p), I'm sure you know what I mean. Thanks a bunch!

Tomo : Here zombie zombie zombie! Here boy! *whistles*

Random zombie : *groan*

*Bang*

Tomo : Muhahaha! At least one gunshot in this chapter!


	20. The Hunt Is On

Kagura : Hey, guys, check it out! Chapter 20 is up.

Tomo : No way! 20 already?

Osaka : We should do something special, don't you think?

Tomo : Totally! But what...?

Kagura : ...ehh...

Osaka : ...hmmm...what about...refresh?

Kagura : Yeah! Refresh!

Tomo : Refresh!!!

Wata : Okidoki, just press that big red button over there.

Tomo : Whaa! Where'd you come from?!

Wata : I'm the author, I'm everywhere! Just press it!

Tomo : Alright! Ready guys?! 3...

Kagura : 2...

Osaka : 1...

*Push* *Whoooooosh* *zoooommmm*

Tomo : Sooo...what changed?

Kagura : I dunno. I don't feel much different...

Osaka : Ya, me neither... W...wait a minute... Mah voice! What happen'd to it?

Wata : It adapted to how I imagine you talking. Recently, I've been getting more and more used to your voice in the English dub, and since you just pushed the refresh button, you will be talking like that from now on. It's a bit sudden, I know, but I don't think it's so bad. It's something special for the 20th chapter.

Osaka : Amazin'! Ah feel like a whole nother person now!

Tomo : So, that's it? That's all that happened?

Wata : Errr, yeah, pretty much. If you want, I can give you something to make up for it.

Tomo : Great! But just one more thing. *Grabs shovel* *Smacks Wata in the head with it*

*FWAAANK!!!*

Wata : AAUUWW! What the hell did you do that for?!

Tomo : Where were you?! It's been 2 months! 2 FRIKKIN' MONTHS! What have you been doing?!

Wata : I...I'm sorry, I just...

Tomo : Don't apologise to me, you idiot! Apologise to your fans!

Wata : I have fans?

Tomo : If you haven't lost them already! Get to it!

Wata: Alright, geez! Hi guys, sorry about the long wait. College has been tiring me, a lot, so I didn't really have the drive to write anymore. Those of you who visited my profile might have known about it, but for those who didn't, sorry again. But I've got something for compensation! This chapter is the biggest one so far, by far. Wanna guess how big? Wrong, guess again! Wrong again! Over 10.000 words! That's right, it's not a typo! 10.000, see? Because of this, this story has officially breached the 100.000 words border! Amazing huh?

Osaka : Amazin' indeed!

Kagura : Anything else?

Wata : Yeah! *rubs head* During those two months, the hit counter has gone up to more than 2300! Awesome!

Tomo : Bravo! *clap clap clap clap*

Wata : So, this one is for you guys. An extra long chapter! Meet us down below when you're done, as usual.

Tomo, Kagura & Osaka : ENJOY!

* * *

Chapter 20 : The Hunt Is On

The girls were once again soaked to the bone. The storm outside had escalated to the strenght of the previous one, and because they spent too long underground, they were forced to walk through it. Quite frightening when it's so dark that the only time you can actually see something is when a lightning flash lights up the environment for only a fraction of a second, only to see hundreds of raindrops pouring down right in front of you, not even mentioning the dead bodies on the ground that not only smell bad and look creepy, but also form obstacles. Tomo had been there.

"Ah crap! Stupid thunderstorm!" she grumbled as she wiped off the mud on her clothes.

"I told you to be careful and watch where you're going, but no! You just had to rush it," Yomi lectured her.

The fact that Tomo tripped, delivering a good laugh to some, wasn't the only drawback. Some spent too long down in the crypt for their own good, and now had to deal with a feeling of nauseousness, such as Osaka, who didn't look quite as healthy as before. She had taken a few deep breaths when she was outside, and that helped a little, but it didn't wipe away that feeling that she was about to throw up.

"Guys...a...ah'm not feelin' so good..." she uttered weakly with a pale face.

"What's the matter Osaka? You sick?" Yomi inquired, getting a mild nod from the spacey girl in response. "You didn't get bitten, did you?"

Kagura's heart skipped a beat and her body froze. Why did she have to be reminded constantly?

"Nah... no bitemarks, see? Ah think ah just spent a tad bit too much time down there..."

"Oh, I see. You need to rest?"

"Ah...ah think sittin' down for a while will do the trick..."

Osaka sat herself down on the stairway, hunched forward with her hands supporting her head. What was mainly bringing her down was the fact that she didn't get any sleep for the whole night, and that was weighing down on her now. The girl had trouble keeping her eyes open, and her whole body ached much like when she got the flu a few years back. Like that wasn't bad enough, her head felt heavy and miserable, and her eyes hurt, leading her to the conclusion that she was getting a cold. Now, all she needed was someone to bother and annoy her.

"Are you gonna puke?" Tomo asked, sitting herself next to her. "If you're gonna puke, don't do it on the stairs. Someone might slip over it and fall!"

"Ugh... Don't say that..." Osaka weeped and gulped. If Tomo wouldn't shut up now, she was really going to throw up.

"What? I puked like two times tonight already, it's not like it's such a ba-"

"Tomo, shut the hell up and leave her alone!" Yomi barked.

"H...huh? Did I say something wrong?"

"Oh, that reminds me," Osaka started, just to get Tomo to shut her mouth and divert her attention to something else. She reached down in her sidepocket. "Ah found this a bit ago." She pulled out the large yellow emerald and showed it to Tomo, who reacted to it like a raven. With a quick sweep, she snatched it from her hand, almost in an obsessive manner.

"Where did you find this?" she questioned.

"Ya dun' wanna know, and ah dun' wanna be reminded," Osaka answered wearily.

"Ehh, okay..."

Tomo stared through the stone, then reached into her own pocket and brought out the blue stone she found a while ago. After that, she just continued to stare at them, the gears in her head turning on full steam. Yet, full steam in Tomo's standards is still slow.

"We put 'em in the tiger head..." Osaka broke up the long silence.

"Right! I knew that, I was just testing you! Let's go!"

"Huh?"

"We're gonna go see what these things do! C'mon!"

Tomo grabbed Osaka by the hand, who had a dumbfounded look on her face. Tomo tugged on her arm to pull her up, but the neaseous girl protested and struggled.

"Ah, b...but..."

"I found the blue one and you found the yellow one, so it's only fair that we go use them together! Besides, some exercise would do you good!" the Wildcat girl cheered.

"Exercise?!"

The rest of the group stared in awe. Even though they went through all this, Tomo still seemed to be bursting with energy, while all the others now had the vigour of that of a dishrag. They watched Tomo drag the protesting Osakan across the hall by the arm. It was obvious that she wanted to accomplish her puzzle by all means, although no one really understood why. As she gave a "be right back" sign to the others, Tomo and Osaka dissapeared through the door leading to the dining room.

"Uh...hey, be careful!" Yomi yelled at the last moment, not sure wether they heard that or not. "Man, where does she get all that spunk? I swear she has some sort of extra reservoir inside her."

"Well, I don't think that that's a bad thing," Chiyo noted. "It's good that we have someone in our group who can keep us going."

"Yeah, but if she keeps this up, my headache will act up again, and I can miss that like a sore tooth right now."

Kagura had marched up to the front doors and stared out the small window next to it. Unbelievable; those dogs were still guarding the entrance like a flock of hungry vultures, patiently waiting for someone to come out. She started wondering exactly how many of these creatures there were in the forest, and if there were more than they thought, fleeing the mansion through the forest as Tomo suggested was probably not such a good idea to begin with. What if they got ambushed during their escape? Those things are frighteningly fast, and although dead, still quite intelligent, not to mention very hungry. And it's not just the Cerberus. There could be other monsters outside, like Eliminators, or Hunters, or Crimson Heads or God knows what else. Well, it's not like it mattered for her, she figured, since she was already slowly dying, but it was her friends she was concerned about. Maybe it was a good thing they decided to stay indoors after all.

"So, what are we going to do? Wait for Tomo and Osaka to come back?" she suddenly asked out loud.

"I think that's the best idea," Yomi answered. "If Tomo comes back and we're not here, she might start freaking out."

"Yeah, good point," the tanned girl sighed while turning around. "I just hope they hurry up, because we don't have much time to waste..."

As soon as Kagura turned around and wanted to go back to the staircase, a loud bang suddenly sounded from behind her, accompanied by a small crack and a growl. She jumped up in the air and her heart started beating out of control. "What am I doing...?!" she thought to herself.

--

Slowly, Tomo opened up the door in the dark hallway and peered inside. This was the same corridor in which they were attacked by an Eliminator earlier, so they had to be careful. She held her breath and listened closely.

"Okidoki, coast is clear I think."

Osaka and Tomo tiptoed into the corridor, turned right at the first corner and made it into the small, narrow room with the golden tiger head.

"Heehee, so far so good!" Tomo chirped.

"Ah still ain't sure why ah had ta come too ya know. Ah told ya ah was feelin' sick," Osaka complained.

"Hey, don't worry about it!"

"...huh?"

"When you feel like throwing up, go ahead, but please aim away from me! Or try gulping several times, that might work!"

"Sorry ah brought it up..."

"There ya go, that's the spirit! Now let's see here..."

With both emeralds in hand, Tomo stood before the tiger head, but there was just one problem she didn't count on.

"Hey, wait a minute! How do we put them in?!"

The spaces to put the emeralds were way too narrow to for them to fit, since they were only small tiger eyes. This had Tomo seriously puzzled, but Osaka quickly came up with the answer.

"Ehm...ya can open the lid here..." she spoke dryly.

Tomo hummed confused, then found a little hatch, opening the lid, revealing a space to put the emerald in. "Oooohhh... Good job, Osaka! Good thing I took you along!"

"Yah, no problem I guess."

Tomo placed the yellow emerald in the designated space and closed the lid again. She then stood back.

"So ehhh...now what?"

Suddenly, the tiger statue rumbled and slowly turned to the left, revealing an opening. And in the indentation was a large, white block with a green lid, firmly suspended, and a high voltage warning on the side. It was obviously a big battery. Tomo grabbed it by the handle and lifted it up.

"Whoa, it's heavy! What's this thing doing in here?!"

"Ah dunno, but it has ta be important if they hid it like this. We'd better show it to the others, maybe they'd know what ta do with it," Osaka reasoned.

"Aw man, what a dissapointment. I was expecting something a bit cooler than a big-ass battery. Oh well, we still got one left."

After the tiger statue automatically returned to its original position, Tomo placed the blue emerald into the other eye. This time, it turned to the right, and this time they found...

"Alright! That's more like it!" Tomo cheered.

In the space was a big, dark, shiny gun. An Assault Shotgun, a 12 gauge Benelli M4 Super 90 semi-automatic to be exact. Tomo's eyes sparkled when she saw the firearm, and she was close to drooling over the floor.

"It's...so beautiful!" she gasped, and she took the Riot Gun in her hands. It was light, alot lighter than Sakaki's shotgun. From that moment on, she knew she wanted to use it. She already fired Sakaki's shotgun before, so she was sure she could handle its firepower. Like a little kid who just got a new toy, she got so excited that she became oblivious to her surroundings.

"Ehhh...hello? Earth to Tomo!"

"MINE!" she suddenly shouted, giving the Osakan a good startle. "I call this shotgun! I found it and I'm using it!"

"...O...okay..." Osaka stuttered.

Tomo continued to caress the Riot Gun a little more, much to Osaka's confusion. Just when they were about ready to head back, Osaka got another one of her brilliant hunches.

"Say, Tomo, the statue said ta put in a blue and a yellow stone right?"

"Yeah?"

"So what if we'd put in a different colored stone instead? What would happen?"

"I don't know Osaka. Maybe a dozen snakes would fall down from the ceiling," Tomo answered sarcastically. "Now pick up that battery and let's get outta here."

With a thoughtful look, Osaka peered at the ceiling, her mind going on a rampage on how such a thing could be possible.

"Wha? How could that be?"

--

Kagura's heart was banging on all cilinders now. A small crack was now visible on the dirty window, as well as a small bloodstain. For now, it seemed to be holding, but who knew how determined those dogs were.

"Kagura, best to get away from the window..." Yomi said silently. "Those dogs are getting impatient."

Sakaki had already bolted upwards with her shotgun ready for action. If those creatures got in now, they'd be in serious trouble. But they couldn't be that stupid, could they? If one of them already smashed its own skull in, they wouldn't make the same mistake.

Next, an ominous howl sounded from outside, followed by another loud crash. The Cerberus slammed into the window at full force, and the others started banging on the front door as well. Kagura ran back to the stairs and held her handgun ready.

"They're hungry..." she lisped.

"Damn, they're trying to get in, and it looks like they're succeeding!" Yomi cussed. "That window isn't gonna hold much longer, we have to get out of here!"

They were just about ready to evacuate when another dog slammed into the cracking window. Small segments of glass were catapulted into the hall and landed onto the the beautifully tiled and expensive looking floor. Now struck with fear, the group realised that they were too late. They had to head for the dining room to find the two runaway members, but the door was too close to the window, and the next strike would surely shatter it into pieces. Next, a bonechilling shriek pierced the short silence, creepy enough to give even the toughest grownup nightmares for many nights to come. Chiyo flinched at the noise and grabbed Sakaki by the arm, who was getting the cold sweat herself.

"Wh...what the hell was that?" Kagura stammered out loud. "That was no dog!"

Chiyo raised her head, recognizing the sound. "That sounded like-"

Chiyo was cut off when the window near the front door finally collapsed and one of the hungry hellhounds gracefully leaped inside. It knocked over the vase next to the window, breaking it into hundreds of little pieces on the floor. The dog landed on all fours and growled ferociously. Much to their horror, they even recognised the mut. Half of the skull exposed, the eye dangling from the socket, one side completely mangled and the other covered with cuts and gashes, and in a new light, brain matter obviously leaking out of the broken skull, this was the very first Cerberus they encountered in the forest, so many hours ago. It hadn't forgotten about them, and was still determined to have the young girls for lunch. It barked, it bended through its knees and it made a swift jump towards its prey. Yomi.

"Oh shi-"

--

"Well, maybe there's like a breedin' ground for them snakes up there! Ya never know in a place like this!"

"Osaka, I was just joking!" Tomo sighed. "Nothing probably happens when you put in the wrong colored emerald, alright?"

"Ah'm just sayin', jus' got me thinkin' is all..."

"I thought you were feeling sick? I sure don't notice much of it," The raven haired girl laughed.

"Oh no," Osaka protested, her hand waving in front of her. "I was feelin' sick, but ah'm a bit better now. Actually, I think ah'm gettin' a bit of a co-"

Suddenly, Osaka froze in her tracks, a dumbfounded look plastered on her face. Her left eyelid twitching and her nose making slight hops up and down.

"Osaka...? What's the matter?" Tomo asked suspiciously, getting a bit uneasy by her sudden change of mood. Osaka's mouth went open slightly and her head made small nods barely visible. Tomo was sure now, something spooked her immensly, and she was now as nervous as she could be.

"Osaka! What's wrong? You're freaking me out!"

"Ah...a....achoi..."

...

"Was that...a sneeze...?"

"Sorry, what ah meant ta say was, I think ah'm gettin' a cold," she sniffed.

"Well, that was odd... You got me scared for a moment there!" Tomo laughed heartily. "Next time, give a warning first, kay?"

Osaka, now wiping her nose, nodded slightly with a goofy smile on her face. Both of them were startled to near death by a sudden monstrous, earshredding squeel coming from somewhere closely above them. The screech reverberated across the dining room before dying out completely. Whatever it was, it sounded aggressive, relentless and ferocious. For a moment there, both girls' hearts stopped on the double.

"T...Tomo... what was that...?!"

They both looked around and above them, but strangely, although it sounded like it was really close, there was nothing to be seen, not in the room itself and nothing on the balcony. Tomo was now breathing heavily and quickly, and her heart was racing out of her chest.

"I...I don't know but...I think it's time we left and found the others..."

As quick as lightning, Osaka turned her head towards another faint sound she heard right after Tomo finished talking. She was scared out of her wits, and her face was once again as pale as before, but not from sickness this time. With wide and terrified eyes, she started stammering. "Th...th-they're...they're watchin' us... They're here, ah know it!"

Just one look into Osaka's eyes and Tomo knew she was serious. Not just that, but it terrified her even more than that false alarm a bit earlier. It was like she knew they were going to die, and there was nothing they could do about it. Tomo swallowed the lump in her throath and spoke up whispering.

"C'mon, we're going back to-"

Like they weren't scared enough, a sudden crash sounded, like a window breaking into pieces, followed closely by another one. These ones definitely came from the main hall. Then came a growl, and then a yell. Yomi's yell.

"That didn't sound good, c'mon Osaka!"

Osaka got her act together and fought the overwhelming feeling of fear, as they both ran towards the door. The commotion erupted into gunshots, more yelling, and pathetic whines. Tomo swung the door open and just saw a zombie dog getting launched across the room. Its skull blown to splinters and its brains smeared across the floor as it slided over the tiles and left a trail of dark, clotted blood. At the staircase, the rest of the group stood with weapons in hands like a stronghold. Yomi spotted Tomo standing at the open door, who was oblivious to the impending danger.

"Tomo, look out!"

With a quick turn of her head, Tomo got a glimpse of the inside of the maw of a Cerberus that swiftly lunged out at her, mouth wide open. After a short bark, Tomo grabbed the mad dog by the head by reflex and was pushed to the floor. She yelped and tried to push the beast away from her, but was no match for the undead creature's amazing strenght. Tomo smelt the foul breath and felt the drool dripping down on her face, as the two rows of sharp teeth snapped at her neck. One of the dogs paws pushed into her stomach, the nails digging into her belly, while the other scratched away at her arm. Through the vicious growling she heard several more gunshots, mainly from Kagura's handgun and Sakaki's shotgun, coming from the main hall. Tomo could almost see the dog's digestive tractus, and she was sure she was a goner now. Another bang came from next to her, and a bullet dissapeared into the monster's brain. Small drops of blood fell onto her, and with a whine, the dog was catapulted off her.

"You alright, Tomo?" Osaka asked with a still smoking gun in her hand.

Tomo nodded weakly. As long as they didn't bite her, she'd be alright with anything.

The dogs just kept coming. Three of them were already dead on the floor, including the one that assaulted Tomo, but each time one died, another one jumped in through the window. The main hall was getting reduced to a slaughterhouse, more blood staining the walls and floor each time another mutant was shot to shreds.

"Come on! Move!" Yomi yelled throughout the ruckus. She ran for it towards the dining room, Chiyo, Sakaki and Kagura following her. Once inside, Sakaki forced the door shut, but again, something held it back. The dog's head was stuck between the space, and it was trying to push the door open again. Sakaki put her shoulder against it, but another dog slammed into the door from the other side, almost making her lose her grip.

"Not this again, piss off!" Kagura yelled. She repeatedly kicked the monster in the head in a brutal manner until it was pushed back far enough for the door to be pushed shut. After that, it became eerily silent, save for the storm that was roaring outside.

"What happened?" Tomo yelled hysterically.

"The...they broke through the window...we couldn't stop them..." Yomi panted, her expression giving away that she felt defeated.

"I'm so sorry guys, this is all my fault..." Kagura murmured.

"That doesn't matter, they would have come after us anyway." Yomi thought deeply and cussed inarticulately. "Damn. Well, the main hall isn't safe anymore. There's probably even more of those things in there now. We should be safe here for now though..."

"I ehh...I'm not too sure about that, Yomi..." Tomo corrected with a shaky voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you hear that shriek a minute ago? It came from here..."

The whole group turned silent, and their hearts were all beating in their throats. They slowly turned towards Osaka, who had her back turned to the rest and calmly scanned the balconies above her with her eyes, back and forth, back and forth, then slowly turned 360 degrees until she was in the same position again.

"There's a lot of them... They've been waitin' for us."

The others looked above, but it was too dark up there to make anything out. No matter how much they peered into the darkness, they saw no movement. Suddenly, out of nowhere, something fell down from the balcony with a loud splatter, right in front of the space cadet's feet. Everyone jumped and yelled out of fright, except for Osaka, who gave a small shock and stared at it with wide eyes.

"Oh my God!" shouted Yomi.

"What is it?!" Chiyo screamed right after.

Blood trailed past Osaka's shoes. Right in front of her was what was left of a zombie, ripped in two from the waist, missing both arms and the heart torn out from a gaping hole in the chest. The jaw was barely hanging on with a few sinews, and the tongue was frantically squirming in the pharynx. It emitted gruesome gurgles and the eyes blinked violently. Slowly, it started crawling, with its chewed off intestines dragging behind like a long cape. Almost pitifully, it brushed the stumps of its humerus against Osaka's leg, like it was asking her to be put out of its misery. Osaka could no longer keep watching. She felt like she was going insane! On the verge of hyperventilating, she screamed much louder than she ever did in her whole life, dropped the battery she was holding and busted a bullet in its brain. She stumbled backwards while gasping heavily and silently uttered sounds of fear. She then turned her head at the others, who could now see she was sweating like crazy.

"Osaka-san..." Chiyo spoke with her voice filled with concern.

"Run...!"

Another strange sound came from the balcony, this time an unsettling cackle, making everyone but Osaka look up.

"RUN! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RUN! GET OUTTA HERE!!!"

Having no time to question Osaka's sudden outburst, they ran for it towards the door on the other side of the room. Just two steps it took them, before another screech filled the room, and another one, and another. It now became clear that the whole balcony was full of those things. Tomo looked up and saw one them jump down. With a loud bang, it landed on the table on all fours, making every item on the large table rattle. The humanoid reptile turned its head towards the group, a slab of decomposed flesh jammed between its teeth. It chewed on it a bit, then gulped it all down in one go, all while keeping that frightening grin plastered on its face. It flexed its muscles and sneered viciously like it was giving some bloodthirsty warcry.

"This is no good! They've ambushed us!" Kagura cried out.

Chiyo, who just kept running towards the door, suddenly screamed when one of the Hunters landed right in front of her, blocking the door that was the only way out for them. Chiyo looked straight into its yellow cat like eyes and took a step back. It was times like these that she wished she had a gun. The Hunter growled and was about to lurch out at her, but Kagura was quick enough to land a magnum bullet in its chest, knocking it back against the wall. Chiyo took this chance to open the door and rally everyone inside, but that was easier said than done. At least six more landed on the ground floor, and it seemed like there were more up on the balcony. Sakaki blasted everything that moved, but after about 3 shots, her shotgun gave a click, indicating that she had to reload. Kagura wasn't doing much better. The Magnum shots were merely enough to knock the predators back, and she couldn't concentrate her aim to give them the fatal blow. Tomo covered them with her newly acquired Riot Gun, and Osaka did what she could with her Baby Eagle. But suddenly, when they almost made it to the door, Osaka gasped and abruptly ran back.

"Osaka, what are you doing?!" Tomo screamed.

Osaka ran back as far as to the other side of the room, crouched down and grabbed the battery by the handles. When she wanted to run back, she was pushed down to the ground by an incredible weight. She landed onto the battery with her chest and coughed in pain. The Hunter that was on top of her gave another shriek and sliced away down on the girl. Ayumu felt a screeching and burning pain in her back, as well as a large amount of warm liquid running down her shirt. Like a lash from a whip, the reptile left another gash on the girl's back, raised up its claws and aimed for Osaka's neck.

"Get away from her, you BITCH!!!"

Tomo blew the Hunter's head clean off with a short range shotgun blast. The body was blown back and landed next to another that was leering and waiting for a chance to strike. Tomo threw Osaka's arm around her shoulder, picked up the battery and ran back as fast as she could.

"Man, what were you thinking, Osaka...?" she huffed as she ran back.

"Hehe...sorry 'bout that..." Osaka chuckled softly.

"Hurry Tomo, there's more of them!" Yomi yelled from the doorframe.

Kagura blasted another one in the chest as Tomo and Osaka made it inside the dark corridor. Yomi reached inside her sidepocket and pulled out a full canister of explosive grenades. Not giving anyone the time to question what she was planning, she threw the canister, containing 6 grenades, into the dining room.

"Get moving, all of you!!!" she yelled, her face letting them know that she meant business.

As everyone ran further into the corridor as fast as they could, Yomi aimed her grenade launcher at the canister, now surrounded by sneering Hunters.

"What the Hell am I doing...?" she wondered, and she pulled the trigger. Frantically, she threw the door shut immediately after the grenade left the barrel, and ran like a lunatic. The whole mansion must have shook just a fraction of a second later. A downright gigantic, eardeafening explosion blew the door out of its hinges, as well as breaking a large part of the wall. But Yomi just kept running and running, disregarding the fact that the wall was coming apart right next to her. A large cloud of dust blinded her, and an incredible heat almost charred her skin. Sounds of windows shattering and squeels of the Hunters getting blown to smithereens were audible in between the horrifying roars of the blast. Yomi stopped right in front of the corner and watched the walls collapsing, and some flames flickering out of the demolished room.

"Yomi, are you freakin' nuts?!" Tomo yelled. "You could have barbequed all of us!"

Yomi leaned against the wall and slided down to the floor, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"That was a bit extreme, ya know..." Kagura added.

"Well, the circumstances were pretty extreme too!" Yomi shot back. "At least they're dead..."

Yomi turned her attention to Osaka, who was standing by herself again, but was obviously hurting bad. When taking a closer look, the girl had 3 deep gashes in her back, one on the upper side and two on the lower side. Blood soaked in her shirt and spreaded down to her pants, but Osaka bit the pain and tried to stay strong while Yomi took out her first-aid box.

"They're just fleshwounds, but I'm going to take care of them. I'm not taking any chances."

"Ya, ah know. Sorry for bein' so reckless. At least ah got the battery back," Osaka said with a forced smile.

"I swear, you'll all get yourselves killed if you keep this up. Get ready, I'm gonna desinfect the wounds now."

"You're one to talk Yomi. You almost got all of us killed there," Tomo grumbled.

While Osaka was being treated, Tomo and Kagura checked out the disaster zone through the large cracks in the walls. There wasn't much to see since the whole room was filled with a thick, dark smoke, and all the lights were off, so the only thing illuminating it was the fire. But from what they could see, the dining room was barely recognisable anymore. The wall in the back was blown out, the table was charred and still burning like firewood, and the balcony was mostly leveled. It appeared the windows in the ceiling were also destroyed, and possibly part of the ceiling itself, as it was now raining in. Flames flickered all over the place, and a big crater in the floor was partly visible from there. Most importantly, scattered across the floor were the burnt and mutilated corpses of the Hunters.

"Whoa, it's like ground zero in there!" commented Kagura.

" Seven grenades just went off in there, at the same time! Yomi sure did some damage."

"Yeah, I bet Spencer would wet his pants if he knew what we just did to his mansion. But anyway, sweet gun!"

"Isn't it?!" Tomo grinned thriumphantly, showcasing her newest toy. "I should ask Sakaki for some more ammo though, cause it looks like I'm almost out."

"Let's get outta here before the whole wall comes down. I don't wanna get covered in rubble on top of all this."

Tomo and Kagura walked back to the rest of the group at the end of the hallway, and Tomo got Sakaki so far to share some of her shotgun shells with her.

"So, how bad is it?" Chiyo inquired.

"Well, the dining room is fried. Completely," Kagura reported. "It doesn't look very stable either, so I think it would be best to avoid going in there."

"Any chance of the fire spreading to the rest of the mansion?" asked Sakaki.

"Never say never, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure most of the roof has collapsed, so the rain should take care of the fire."

"I think we should check if there's any other damage." Chiyo reasoned. "Maybe parts of other rooms surrounding the dining room collapsed because of the blast."

"But wait, what about the Hunters? Are they dead?" Osaka joined in, between the bursts of stinging pain.

"Burnt to a crisp!" Tomo beamed. "Tough guy that manages to survive something like that!"

"We should be able to take detours to avoid going through the dining room, but...the main hall is a different story." Yomi lisped while bandaging Osaka's back. "The main hall connects several parts of the mansion, so maybe we'll be forced to go in there after all, but it's so dangerous there."

"We're on the West wing of the mansion now, right? Does anyone recall if there is a way to get to the East wing without having to cross the main hall?"

"There isn't," Osaka immediately answered Kagura's question. "The main hall is right in the middle of the mansion, and there's no other connection between the East an' the West wing. We hafta go through the hall ta get to the other side..."

Yomi was a bit baffled to hear that Osaka memorized the layout of the ghosthouse already, but to her, that was more of a blessing than a miracle.

"So there's no way, are you sure?" Tomo continued.

"No, unless we'd go outside, but ah dun' think that's such a good idea. Ouch! Careful Yomi."

"Sorry, I'm almost done. So then, do you know of a way to at least avoid the dining room?"

"Ehh...ah dunno, but ah do recall seein' a door on the second floor balcony that we haven't tried yet."

At that, Kagura grabbed the map of the second floor she still had in her pocket somewhere. It was a bit messed up because of the water from the Aqua Ring, and there was some of her own blood on it, but with the help of her flashlight, she could still make it out somewhat.

"Yeah, she's right! There's what looks like a long corridor connecting the main hall and the room with that awkward staircase on the second floor."

"You mean that room where we jumped over the railing? That's not a corridor, that's that creepy outside balcony pathway!" Yomi mused. "I don't like the sound of that, but if it's the only way, then so be it I guess."

"If we end up on the second floor balcony, there's a good chance we can cross it without those dogs attacking us if we hurry," Sakaki added.

"Okay, so we'll do it that way. But we shouldn't leave here until we're done with everything on this side, agreed?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and now they just had to figure out what to do next. With the new key they acquired in the residence, there were more doors they could unlock, so they decided to go look for them. They were just about ready to move on when they heard a sudden sound, one that they didn't like to hear.

"Wh...what the...!"

"Oh shit, that can't be!"

The sound came from inside the dining room, but was soon followed by a slamming against the door on the opposite side. The croaking and hissing sounds seemed to be coming from everywhere now. The group took this as a hint to get going, and fast.

"I thought you said they were all dead, Tomo!" Yomi barked.

"I assumed they were! How could I expect them to survive that?!" the Wildcat snapped back.

"Guys, could you save it for another time? They're breaking through!" Kagura shouted.

From behind the busted wall, several clawed hands appeared through the cracks, and after a few tackles, the rubble was pushed back. Out came two burnt but severly pissed off Hunters, but the squeels suggested that there were more of them. On the opposite side, the door was splintering more and more with each bash, slowly breaking in two.

"Damn, what do we do?!" Tomo grunted.

"The elevator! Quickly! C'mon!"

Kagura lead the rest of the group to the steel, barred elevator door right after the corner. With sweating hands, she pressed the switch over and over. "Come on you piece of crap, hurry!"

A loud smash indicated that the door, suffering so much abuse a few seconds earlier, had given up the fight to hold back the bloodcraving mutants, and they were now spilling into the corridor, squeeling like the wild animals they were, hungry for fresh meat. Sakaki and Tomo stood next to eachother, shotgun in hand, showering the Hunters with dozens of small, steel orbs. Yet even with all that firepower, the horde was still gaining on them quickly.

"Man, they're tough!"

The elevator seemed to be taking forever, and Kagura was clearly losing her nerve. When the door finally opened, she nearly pushed Osaka, Yomi and Chiyo in and immediately closed the gate again.

"Go to the second floor, this elevator isn't big enough for all of us."

"Are you nuts, Kagura?!" Yomi growled. "What about you guys?!"

"We'll go down to the basement and take the elevator there, now go!"

"But..."

"There's no time! Just get going, we'll be fine!" she now yelled.

Yomi didn't say a single word and pressed the button for the second floor. Kagura got Osaka's and Chiyo's glares before the lift dissapeared up the shaft.

"Stay alive, okay?!" she heard Chiyo yell at the last moment. Kagura sighed and ran past the corner to where Tomo and Sakaki were fighting, Magnum in hand.

"Come on you scum! Eat this!"

Kagura, Tomo and Sakaki opened fire, each blast pushing the small army back just a little bit. The throbbing pain in Kagura's arm reminded her that she had a mission to fulfill; take any measure possible to keep her friends alive, until the very end. Like it was draining away the very last of her lifeforce, her arms felt heavier after each shot, and her vision gradually started to blur. Sweat seeped off her face and she nearly broke her own teeth by clinging her jaws shut so hard. Yet, she kept fireing until...

"Tomo, Sakaki, to the basement now! Let's blow this joint!"

The two girls jumped up from their crouching position and followed Kagura down the concrete stairs and into the basement, where the foul reeking kitchen greeted them warmly. Sakaki wanted to slam the door shut, but one of the Hunters thought differently. With a graceful leap, it jumped down the stairs and bashed into the door, knocking Sakaki with her back against the counter. Before she knew it, the claws were wedged in her wrist. Sakaki yelped in pain and tried to reach for the shotgun she dropped, but she was brutally thrown to the floor, soon meeting up with the creature's razor-sharp paws again. Her blood stained the kitchen furniture closeby, more so with each swipe, and her screams were drowned out by the high pitched shrieks. And then it ended, with a bang. The monster's brains were splattered against the wall like a can of paint thrown against the cloth, and the monster fell down lifeless upon a now whimpering Sakaki. Tomo dropped her Riot Gun to the floor, lifted the corpse off her and dropped down on her knees. She couldn't bear to see the sight.

"Kagura...close the door..."

Kagura's body was shuddering all over. She was pale, sweating out of control and she felt like throwing up. Stiffened by fear, she couldn't move anymore.

"Now, Kagura!!!"

Shook out of her trance, she dashed for the door and slammed it shut, frantically looking for something to block it with. Unfortunately, there was nothing that she could use to hold those monsters back. The only choice they had now was to use the elevator, and quick. Pronouncing several profanities between her teeth, Kagura ran to the back of the room, past the corner and found the elevator door there. She pressed the switch to call it and ran back.

"The elevator is coming... Is...is she..." she stammered with a lump in her throat.

Tomo looked up to her, eyes nearly in tears. "She's still conscious but...I think her main artery has been cut... She's losing a lot of blood..."

Sakaki's body was covered with several scratches, some deeper than others. But the worst wound was at her wrist. A lot of blood gushed through several wounds where the claws had pierced her flesh. She was laying on her back, too exhausted to say anything and breathing weakly. Kagura crouched down and searched Sakaki's sidepacks. She pulled out the first aid kit and took out a bandage. "We need to stop the bleeding now! If we don't, we'll be too late to save her!"

Kagura looked at Sakaki's wrist, and it was more messed up then she'd imagined. The gashes were very deep and blood just kept coming out. Her flesh was even torn away in some places. But she could not be held back by the sight of it. If she didn't act now, her friend would die, right there. With everything going on and several more bashes sounding from the door, she tried her best to stay calm.

"Sakaki, this will hurt a lot, but don't worry, you'll be okay! Just bite your way through it."

Kagura wrapped the bandage around her arm just above the wound, made a knot, did a countdown in her head, and yanked both ends of the bandage with all her might. Sakaki yelped again and grinded her teeth to supress the horrible pain. Tomo flinched and could almost feel her pain, and saw another gush of blood being forced out of Sakaki's wrist. After that, it stopped.

"Tomo, put your fingers on the knot," Kagura commanded. Tomo did so, and Kagura made a double knot to make sure the bandage would stay on. "That should stop the bleeding... Now let's get outta here and meet up with the others."

Tomo and Kagura picked up Sakaki and supported her and, with a fast pace, moved on to the elevator that was waiting for them. They disregarded the sounds of the glass breaking and the wood splintering. They couldn't afford to lose more time, because if they didn't take care of Sakaki thoroughly and soon, they could still lose her.

--

"What's taking them so long..." Yomi pondered silently.

The elevator had taken the three other girls to a whole new corridor. There was a small section of corridor that lead to a dead end and a large double door that wouldn't budge. There was more behind the corner, but they didn't investigate that far yet. There were also several dirty windows, giving a view over the dark forest, and some paintings hanging from the walls. The three sat in the dead end corridor, waiting impatiently for the others to return. Chiyo had stumbled upon a book laying on the floor and was reading into it to make the wait more bearable. Next to her, were two small potted plants, perticularly one being green, and the other being red. She recalled seeing more of them across the mansion, but no one ever really payed attention to them. Up until now, she was sure they were just for decoration. But now that she found this book, it all became clear to her.

Yomi was starting to get very worried. It seemed like it was taking way too long for the elevator to come back up. She noticed it leaving the second floor again, but that was more than a minute ago. All the worst scenarios started to play in her head. Them getting caught by those monsters right before they could get inside the elevator, or maybe they made it inside, but were still mauled before they could take off. She shook those thoughts off her; she really wasn't supposed to be thinking that. But then her hopes were brightened when she heard the elevator coming up again. She immediately jumped up from the floor. After a "ting" sound, the gate opened, and out came Tomo, Kagura and...

"Sakaki-san!" Chiyo yelled when she saw the tall girl. She could describe her like Kagura described Chiyo before : like she went through a grinder.

"They...they got her..." Tomo gulped.

"Oh no..."

Sakaki was now laying on the carpet floor, her eyes shut, breathing slowly and softly, only a small whimper leaving her lips now and then. Tomo and Kagura gave the explanation of what happened, and how Kagura took actions to make the bleeding stop. If it weren't for her, Sakaki would have been dead by now. Unfortunately, nobody knew what to do now.

"Well we can't just leave her like this. If her hand doesn't get any blood, it might die off..." said Yomi. "I really don't know what to do when an artery gets cut."

"During P.E., I was always taught to cut off the blood vessels to stop the bleeding and then call an ambulance," Kagura mumbled grimly. "But...other than that..."

"Can't ya stitch it back t'gether like ya did with Kagura, Yomi?"

"No...these wounds are too small for me to stitch... I'm not a surgeon after all...dammit."

"Then what are we going to do? If we could somehow make the wounds heal, we could fix her up!"

The group fell silent, suddenly feeling powerless to help the poor wounded girl.

"I ehh...I might have a suggestion..." Chiyo spoke up, with a hint of doubt in her voice. She immediately got everyone's attention, so she continued. "I've just read something about medicinal herbs. Apparently there are herbs that grow here that have coagulant properties and can heal physical strenght. I don't know how much of this is true, but if I could prepare these herbs... It might just work!"

"Wait wait, you're telling me there's plants here that can heal you? Why are we hearing this just now?" argued Tomo.

"I just found it out myself! I read it in this book."

"Say Tomo, whut's coagulant mean?" Osaka asked in the pur of the moment.

"Beats me, but it sounds all doctorish, so it's gotta have some significance."

"To put it simple," Yomi explained, "it makes the blood dry up and form a crust, thus allowing the wound to heal overtime."

"Ooooh! But that's perfect! So where do we find those herbs?"

Chiyo turned around and pointed to the two small plants standing in the corner. "I'm pretty sure that's them."

"Huh? Those things? I thought they were just for decoration!"

"Same here. Maybe they are, but I'm not sure why... Well, let's get to work!"

Chiyo took a piece of bandage and started with cutting up the herbs on it. Meanwhile, Kagura and Yomi kept an eye on Sakaki, who regained the strenght to speak again.

"How are you feeling, Sakaki?" Yomi asked softly.

"Ugh...My hand feels numb and...I'm a little dizzy..."

"That's because you lost a lot of blood, but don't worry, we're working on patching you up," Kagura assured her.

"Th...thank you, Kagura... You saved my life..." she sputtered.

"Hey, don't mention it. That's why we're friends, right?" she responded with a smile.

"Right...heh..."

"So ehh...Chiyo-chan, what are you doing?" Tomo asked while peeking over the small girl's shoulder.

"I'm going to drench this bandage with the herb's juices. I read that the juices have the strongest coagulant powers, so if we wrap this around Sakaki-san's wrist, it should heal her wounds more quickly."

"Oh, but why both the red one and the green one?"

"Because combining red with green supposedly triples its effect. There, that should do it."

Chiyo grabbed a handful of the red and green herb mix and the bandage, and crouched down by Sakaki's arm.

"Sakaki-san, this might sting a little, but here goes."

Chiyo squeezed the herbs in her hand and let some of the juices drip onto the wound. Sakaki hissed silently, but the sting was very bearable, especially compared to the pain in the rest of her body. Then, Chiyo wrapped the drenched bandage around her wrist and secured it with a safetypin.

"There! Don't open her artery just yet. The effect shouldn't take too long, but wait a bit longer just in case."

"Amazing Chiyo-chan, it's like you're a real doctor!" Yomi smiled.

"A witch doctor!" the little girl laughed. "I just hope it works..."

After that, Chiyo got back to work to prepare the rest of the plants, with the eyes of the others following her every move. She proceeded to grind the herbs as fine as she could with her dagger. Although the instructions said to dry them and grind them down to powder form, such a thing was impossible, so this would have to do. After she was done, it was time to administer the brew to Sakaki.

"Okay Sakaki-san," Chiyo started, "this is for the rest of your wounds. If all goes right, they should heal faster."

"So...how should I...take them?"

"This may sound silly, but orally."

"I have to eat that?"

Sakaki turned off her common sense and just swallowed the small chunks of the plant down. It tasted horribly bitter and had an awful aftertaste, so much that it almost made her gag. And then, they could only wait for it to start working. After a few minutes, the moment of truth arrived. Kagura slowly untied the bandage cutting off her artery. If the herbs were bogus, she would start bleeding like crazy again. After the bandage was removed, a smile appeared on Kagura's face.

"Ah...hahahahah! Holy crap! Look at that! It actually worked, incredible!"

"It looks like it yeah! Brilliant work, Chiyo-chan!"

Chiyo blushed slightly at Yomi's words of praise, but most of all she was glad the herbs worked like the book said they would.

"Amazin'! It's like those 'erbs are magical or somethin'"

"But what about that physical strength thing? Is that gonna happen or not?" Tomo beamed almost excited.

Chiyo nodded slowly, and gestured towards Sakaki, who was opening and clenching her fist over and over. The numb feeling in her hand slowly dissapeared, and it gradually woke up again. She curiously brushed her hand across the scratchwounds on her torso. They had all stopped bleeding and formed a crust. The herbs worked even quicker than Chiyo had imagined. With a sigh, she sat herself straight, feeling a sudden jolt of energy surging through her. For a moment, she felt like she was on drugs; refreshed and nearly good as new, albeit still a bit dizzy. She was sure now. She was still alive, and feeling even better than before!

"Sakaki, how do you feel?" Kagura asked with a hopeful smile.

"I feel...pretty good! Still a bit woozy though... Thank you, Chiyo-chan. You saved me, again..."

"Nah, you don't have to thank me," the young girl laughed with a small tear of relief in her eye. "If it wasn't for Kagura-san, there would have been nothing left for me to save, so..."

Kagura was clearly thrown back when Sakaki turned to her and gave her a warm smile. She involuntarily blushed and giggled nervously.

"Ah, haha, no, it was nothing really. I just did what my instincts told me to do. I mean, I couldn't just leave you to die, right? Well eh, anyway, glad you're okay now."

What was she trying to pull here. Kagura now saw herself as nothing more but a protector rather than a comrad. If anything happened to anyone, she would go through the fire and flames to come to their rescue, disregard of her own safety. At least, that's what she constantly told herself. But then why did she freeze after the Hunter attacked Sakaki? Why couldn't she do anything until Tomo pulled her out of her daze? Was she too weak for her new role after all? Was she the biggest coward of them all? Or was it just the shock of the event? Or even worse, was the virus already taking effect and slowing down her reaction time. Whatever the reason, this could never happen again. When those monsters attack, the matter of life or death could depend on just one second. One second, and one of them could lose their head, or get a chunk taken right out of them, like she experienced herself. Poor Sakaki nearly got torn appart by that mutant, and she blamed herself for letting that happen. Just at that moment, she spaced out, and it was Tomo who came to her rescue instead. She then pondered if her being infected had anything to do with it. Just a bit before, her vision was blurry, as if someone had thrown dirt in her eyes. That, and her focus was not as clear as before. At any other time, she could have busted those monsters straight in the head like she did before, but this time she couldn't manage. Were these the first symptoms, or was she just tired?

Chiyo gave Sakaki a big hug, and Tomo followed shortly with cheering "group hug!" and plummeting down on them. Osaka and Kagura followed as well, but Yomi was too busy doing some pondering of her own. She found it astonishing that Sakaki, who was near death just a bit ago, was now back on her feet and nearly good as new, all thanks to some herbs. Maybe this was the reason why Umbrella was so important in this city. She recalled Chiyo saying that they mostly grow in these regions, and they are obviously used as small houseplants here. Were these herbs the key? Did Umbrella base most of its pharmaceutical products on these medicinal plants? Yet, these were all just unimportant details, but she couldn't stop wondering it.

"Hey guys, look!"

Osaka stood by the window and and pointed outside. The thunderstorm had already passed, and more importantly, the sky was getting brighter. The sounds of early birds chirping, the faint glow over the trees, the night was over and dawn slowly started breaking.

"The sun is coming up..." Yomi commented. She checked her watch. Almost 6 o' clock in the morning. She could barely believe it herself, but they were stuck in the mansion for almost 5 hours now. 5 whole hours, yet it seemed like it was longer. She sighed in relief that they all survived the night, and that the mansion would now be getting less dark and less unsettling. But danger was still just around the corner, and they had to stay on their toes.

"Great, we should at least be able to see better now. If Sakaki is feeling better, I suggest we get going."

"Hey, hang on a minute!" Tomo boomed. "I've got something for ya, Chiyosuke!"

Much to Chiyo's surprise, Tomo handed her her handgun and some clips. Chiyo looked up to her confused.

"I figured it's time you got something to protect yourself with, and I probably won't use it anymore. It's yours."

"B-but, I don't know if I can handle it!" she argued.

"Don't be silly, Chiyo-chan. You fired a frikkin' grenade launcher! I'm sure you could handle this. It's no big deal, really."

"Good point..."

With some hesitation, Chiyo took the Beretta from her hands. She never thought it would come to this. Her, fireing a gun? She never even considered it, but now she had to. She gave Tomo her thanks and shoved the clips in her pouch.

"Okay, are we ready? Let's get going then," announced Yomi.

And so they moved on, further investigating the corridor. Around the corner, there was another door right in front of them. Then, to the right, there stood an armless statue of a man in the corner, and again to the left, another door. They decided to check on the first door. This lead them to a small room, which from the looks of it was a storage room. On the shelves were some useless tools, boxes filled with more tools, and a small lantern, which wasn't even on. Dissapointed that they found nothing of use in the small room, they headed for the other door. This one lead to a very familiar hallway. A charred and damaged door to their right, leading to the balcony of the dining room, and on the other side, a mirror placed in the corner at such an angle that they could see into the hallway past it. They had been here before. This was the corridor where they found the golden arrow, where Kagura scored a spectacular headshot and, where they encountered their first Crimson Head. Just out of curiosity, Tomo opened the door to the dining room. The balcony was largely crumbled and was too unstable to walk on, so it was out of the question. The only option they had was to go down the corridor. If they remembered correctly, there were more doors there they could open. But they were halted, again by a sound. Not a squeel this time, but a soft crackling, escorted by the sound of someone wheezing. Slowly, step by step, the girls walked down the hallway, and in the reflection of the mirror, they could see something lying on the floor on hands and knees. A Crimson Head. Its body was twitching, cramping, contorting even. Unusual stumps of bone sprouted out of its lower arms and elbows. Its toes slowly grew beyond human proportions and even overwhelmed the claws growing out of it.

"What the..." Yomi whispered. She certainly didn't want to disturb this scene, because it was something none of them had seen before. Next, the Crimson Head fell to the floor and stopped moving, only giving a twitch now and then, and the cracking sound dissapeared.

"What was that?" Tomo thought out loud.

"It looked like it was mutating or something, but it just stopped all of a sudden," Yomi replied silently.

Suddenly, it screamed, loudly! It started trashing around on the floor wildly as if it was having some sort of seizure. The group got scared the crap out of them and stared into the mirror with eyes wide open. This went on for about 30 seconds, until the scream gradually got softer, and was replaced with what sounded like a stretched out gasp; soft and almost extraterrestrial-like. They could hardly believe it, but now, the creature had turned from bipedal to quadrupedal. It then pushed itself up with its arms, hissed, and out of its mouth erupted its tongue, at least 6 feet long, resembling a whip. Struck with fear, the girls continued to spectate the metamorphosis, hoping this new creature wouldn't notice them in the reflection. The monster looked around and turned its head towards the mirror, revealing that its face still looked like that of a Crimson Head. It still had those cold, snow-white eyes and even still had hair, but its arms had changed shape and its claws had grown even bigger. There was no doubt the monster saw the girls in the reflection, so they readied themselves, but instead of charging, it jumped up against the wall and crawled away at incredible speed, much like Spiderman. After a few seconds, a door could be heard opening and falling shut. After that, everything went silent.

The girls were speechless, and could only just stand there for several seconds, not saying a word.

"W-what just happened?" Sakaki finally spoke up.

"I don't know, but...like I said before, it looked like it just mutated...and we just happened to see it happen..." Yomi answered with doubt.

"Did ya see it's tongue? Like that Crimson Head just turned into a lizard or somethin'"

"So that WAS a Crimson Head, wasn't it? That thing must have been that zombie we shot down here hours ago," Kagura reasoned.

"So they mutate even further than a Crimson Head? That's just messed up!" said Tomo.

"But why did it run away? All Crimson Heads so far attacked us head-on, so why didn't this one...? It definitely noticed us..."

Yomi had a good point. There must have been a reason why it fled. Was it scared? Not likely.

"Maybe it didn't want to attack us because it wasn't fully transformed yet..." Chiyo argued.

"I don't even want to begin imagining that," Tomo huffed.

"So, whaddawe do? Go look for it?"

"Are you mad, Osaka? If that creep wants to run away, let it! Better that than us having to fight it."

"Well, ah guess that's true. Ah was just thinkin', maybe if we let it get away now, it might come back even stronger!"

"Osaka has a point," Yomi interrupted, "but I suggest we press on and let that thing go for now. Chances are we'll never even see it again, and if we do, we'll kill it."

"Before it can kill us, right?" Tomo glared.

"R...right..."

"I thought so," the Wildcat nodded. "Still, that was one hell of a tongue! Kinda makes you wonder about all the things it could do with i-"

"Okay, we're leaving now!"

With that failed joke, leaving Tomo trailing behind grumbling, they moved on through the corridor, looking for another door to open, hopefully giving them a new lead to escape the mansion.

"Man, some people really can't take a joke..."

--

"That certainly was a close call, Sakaki. It would have been too bad if I lost you already. Heh... You show promise though, all of you. Don't you worry girls, everything will become clear very soon. Not that it will matter for any of you, of course. No, I will make sure I get everything out of you, every single thing you have to offer. And then, I will have you waving goodbye. Hehehe..."

* * *

Tomo : Awright! A Riot Gun! Thanks a bunch!

Wata : You're welcome, Tomo.

Yomi : Look at you. Like a kid in a candy shop.

Tomo : That's a joke you stole from me and you know it!

Yomi : So what, you're gonna sue me or something?!

Wata : Guys! I'm tired -.- Can you take over from here? Like we practiced.

Tomo : Okidoki! It's in good hands!

Wata : I'm sure it is. Well, bye!

Kagura : Okay! It's time to play another game of GUESS THAT REFERENCE!

Osaka : Somewhere in this here chapter, Wata made another reference-

Chiyo : Besides to Resident Evil.

Osaka : Right, b'sides that! If any of you know which one it is and to what, we're supposed to give ya a cookie or somethin'.

Kagura : It's really obvious, isn't it?

Tomo : It is!

Sakaki : Ehh, we also have another cookie. If you know which monster showed up at the end of this chapter, you get that one as well. But it has to be exactly right.

Chiyo : Not that hard if you know something about it...

Osaka : Is that cookie supposed to be a methaphor or somethin'? It's not like Wata can send cookies thru the internet.

Yomi : I don't know, but I guess I'll be doing the goodbyes. *ahem* Hope you enjoyed it, and please don't forget to review.

Tomo : GOODBYE!!!

Yomi : Dammit, I was gonna do it!

Osaka : Unless he has some sort of telepod...


	21. Desperation

_I'm going to be perfectly honest with all of you; as of late, the drive to write this story is almost completely gone. It's not that I'm insecure about it or anything, but I guess I'm just a lazy bum! This has two major consequences:_

_1. This chapter is REDICULOUSLY late!_

_2. This is the shortest chapter since a long time._

_However, today is a little bit special. If you take a look at the date, you'll see that it's exactly 1 year since Biological Nightmare was published. 1 FREAKIN' YEAR!_

_So that means it's an anniversary! *pops imaginary champagne* I originally intended for this chapter to be released last week, but I decided to push it back to today for that reason._

_Now, looking back on it, it's hard to believe that it's already been a whole year. The whole arrival in Racoon City and the description of the cerberus and the mansion, it seems like something I did yesterday. Those were the days, when I still pumped out chapter after chapter like a madman XD_

_So I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading this story so far. The ones who were there since the very beginning and gave me my first reviews, and the ones who just found this recently. The ones who pushed me on for new material when it took me too long, and the ones who told me to take it easy and release new stuff whenever I felt happy about it. The ones who have this story on Story Alert and/or have it in their favorites, and the ones who just casually come and check for updates. The ones who had nothing but praise, and the ones who criticized me. Thanks to all of you; over 3500 hits!_

_Thank you all so much! I couldn't possibly have gotten this far without you.  
_

* * *

Chapter 21 : Desperation

A cold wind blew in from the half open window in the room connected to the staircase hallway. Small fragments of drizzle billowed onto Kagura's face, who, with tired and heavy eyes, stared out into the forest. She watched the nasty thunderclouds dwindle off in he far distance, leaving nothing but some rainclouds in the clearing sky. Like in a state of hypnosis, she couldn't help but pay attention to the drops of water sliding off the glass. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, and took note of her new surroundings. A room with a small coffee table in the middle, some cupboards against the wall and a dusty, old carpet on the floor. Most notably, two hunting trophies hung against the wall. On the south side was the head of a majestic reindeer, its antlers so large they nearly touched the ceiling. On the north side of the room was a powerful bison's head, with horns so impressive they could skewer anything. And on the western wall, a bronze eagle sat on a pedestal, wings spread wide.

While Chiyo and Osaka sat against the wall and Kagura continued to stare outside, Yomi, Tomo and Sakaki searched the room for any useful item they could find. It didn't take long until something caught Tomo's eye.

"Huh? What's that?"

Lodged in the left eye of the reindeer trophy was a red and shiny object, apparently very similar to the two emeralds they found and used earlier. Tomo knew she had to get it. If it was pretty and shiny, she was immediately sold.

"Yomi! Get over here! Come give me a boost!" she croaked.

"Forget it Tomo. My back still hurts from last time. Find some other way."

Tomo huffed annoyed and looked around her. Maybe if she used the table...no, she would end up falling on her ass. That cupboard would do the trick though. Tomo struggled to push the loose cupboard next to the reindeer head and climbed on top.

"Hah, not bad. Now then..."

She grabbed the red emerald and tried to pull it out. Unfortunately, it was firmly stuck in the eyesocket, as if something was holding it back.

"D...damn, no good."

Then, she looked around the head and the wall for a switch or something that would make the stone come out, but there was nothing. She even tried pulling the antlers, but nothing worked. She figured there had to be some other way, so she looked around the room.

"Wait a minute..."

The weird eagle statue on the wall was now looking straight at her, and if she remembered right, it wasn't like that when she entered the room. Curiously, she jumped off the cupboard and walked around, all while keeping her eye on the eagle. Like she thought, that thing was following her. Creepy...

"Hmmm... I think it's obvious what I have to do here."

Yomi was searching some of the drawers, and when she turned around and caught eye of Tomo, she really didn't know what to think. She sweatdropped and sighed.

"Tomo...what are you doing...?"

Tomo was standing on top of the cupboard and was feverishly trying to pry the emerald loose with her dagger. All while grunting and mumbling something about how that stone wasn't doing what she wanted it to do.

"Grrrr, come on you piece of crap!"

"You know, Tomo," Yomi reasoned. "I don't think that approach is gonna work."

"It'll work, I've got the power of physics on my side!"

"The power of...what?!"

But with one big yank, Tomo's dagger cracked and broke in two. Now, not only the emerald was stuck, but so was the edge of her blade.

"D'OH!!!"

"Hey, good job," Yomi chuckled.

Tomo was now seriously pissed. She held the broken dagger in her hand, dropped it and grabbed her Riot Gun.

"Say your prayers, Rudolph!" she shrieked.

"H-hey wait!"

Yomi tried to stop her, but she was a little late now. Without thinking it over, Tomo blasted the reindeer head to shreds. Pieces of fur and stuffing flew all over the room, but miraculously, considering what was left of the trophy, the emerald fell to the floor unscathed. Victoriously, Tomo jumped off the cupboard and picked it up.

"Woohoo! I won! In your face!"

Tomo turned to Yomi, who was now completely covered in a fluffy, cotton-like substance. She coughed and took off her glasses.

"Tomo... Remind me to kill you...before the monsters do..."

Tomo laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head. "Ahahah... C'mon, you don't mean that."

But Yomi, with all her calmness and smoothness, slowly walked up to her, wiped off the fluff from her nose and stared deep into the Wildcat's eyes, who was now starting to lose her cool. Then, she sighed...and pounded Tomo on the top of her head, hard!

"No, I'm actually dead serious..."

As waterfalls streamed off Tomo's face and she rubbed her sore head frantically, Yomi lost the final piece of her composure.

"Next time you want to use your gun for something so stupid, use it on your face instead! You want those undead freaks to find us?! Idiot!" she roared.

"You sure as hell are gonna give us away if you keep screaming like that, four-eyes!" Tomo snapped back.

"Whaaaat?! So now it's my fault?! I'm screaming because you're such an imbecile!"

"Oh, you wanna fight, huh? Well, come on then!"

The two hotheads were now cheek to cheek in an intense and hostile staredown, all while throwing miscellaneous insults at one another.

"Bitch!"

"Fatso!"

"Oh, you're so gonna die now!"

"I'd like to see that, chubs!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Kagura suddenly shouted, interrupting Tomo and Yomi's squabbling. Both of them looked at her confused, until they followed where Kagura's finger was pointing at.

Both Osaka and Chiyo were now fast asleep against the wall, Chiyo's head resting on her taller friend's shoulder. Peacefully, not even remotely disturbed by the war that raged just a moment ago.

"Oh, they're asleep..." Tomo noted, suddenly calmed down completely.

"I can't blame them. We've barely slept at all last night, and we've been through so much. They must be exhausted..." Kagura muttered.

Yomi put her glasses back on and crossed her arms, considering the situation. "Well... I guess there's no point in moving on if we're too tired to walk, let alone run away or defend ourselves from those monsters. But..."

"Hold on," Tomo interrupted. "I know what you're thinking, and don't worry about it! I'll keep watch!" she smirked.

Yomi frowned her eyebrows and gave her a doubtful look. "You? Well, it's true that you're the one who has the most energy out of all of us, however..."

"What? You're doubting me?" Tomo gasped. "Yomi, my dear! I'm shocked and appalled!"

"Fine, fine! We're counting you then. Just scream when something happens."

Sakaki looked down to the ground at Yomi's decision. What was she supposed to do now? Yomi had a point, and it would be suspicious if she, of all people, objected right now. But for all she knew, Kagura might not have this much time left! By the time they woke up and were ready to move on, she might already be... The promise she made was really starting to weigh down on her now, and the urge to give it away was stronger than ever. However, it seemed like Sakaki and Kagura could talk telepathically, because the young athlete gave Sakaki a faint smile and she nodded slightly. Sakaki sighed silently and clenched her fist.

_What is she thinking? That idiot..._

Little did Sakaki know, Kagura was currently contemplating on the hardest issue she had ever faced in her whole life.

"Alright, listen up. We're following Chiyo and Osaka's example. For now, we're gonna stay right here and try to catch some sleep." Yomi pushed a few buttons on her watch and set up an alarm. "In about 3 hours from now, we move on. So make sure to get as much sleep as possible."

As everyone layed down on the floor to get some shut-eye, Tomo sat herself on the table, her Riot Gun next to her.

"Once again, Tomo, I'm counting on you," said Yomi.

Tomo gave a tumbs up and sparkled. "Don't worry, just leave it to Tomo-sama!" was what she said, but she suddenly regretted her proposition. What the hell was she supposed do for 3 whole hours?

Yomi decided not to reply to that last comment and closed her eyes.

--

The lights in the room were turned out, and the sky outside was cloudy. Even though it was already morning, it was still quite dark. There was enough light in the room for Kagura to see her surroundings and her friends. Everyone else but Tomo was obviously asleep, but not her. She couldn't sleep, or rather, she didn't dare to. She stared at the ceiling, her fingers peeling the skin off her lower lip. She was deeply lost in thoughts, and quite frankly, she didn't feel very good. Her stomach hurt, her head felt heavy and her muscles were stiff. But she didn't pay attention to that. Instead, she was plotting her next move.

As time passed by and Kagura remained sleepless, it became more and more obvious to her what she had to do. She sighed and glanced at Sakaki, who was sleeping peacefully. She then returned her gaze to the ceiling, clenched her fist and sighed deeply.

--

Those 3 hours passed quickly, and even Yomi didn't feel like getting up when her alarm went off. Clumsily, she worked herself up and rubbed her tired eyes. When she saw out of her eyes straight again, which took about a minute, it became obvious that what she suspected was true.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me..."

Yomi stood up and walked towards the hunched over figure of Tomo. A small trail of drool originated from her mouth and ran down her chin. Also, the girl was snoring quietly. Yomi growled silently and tapped her foot on the floor. She then took a very deep breath, and let it all out at once.

"GOOD MORNING!!!"

Tomo jumped up like something bit her in the ass and frantically fell off the table she was sitting on with a thump.

"What's your problem?!" Tomo snarled as she jumped right back up. "I wasn't sleeping, I was just closing my eyes for a bit!"

"Is that why you were snoring?"

Osaka opened up her eyes. She, like all the others, got more of a wake-up call than they bargained for. "Huh? Whu...whut's goin' on? Is breakfast ready yet...?"

"Really..." Yomi facepalmed. "It's not that I can blame you, but I thought you said you were going to keep watch! What if a monster came in? We could've been killed!"

"What if, what if!" Tomo countered. "Nothing happened so what's the problem?!"

"Urgh, whatever," Yomi sighed. She realised that arguing wasn't going to get them anywhere anyway. "Let's just get going again, everyo-"

Yomi fell silent as she made an unsettling discovery.

"What...?"

Tomo turned around to see what the problem was. She didn't realise it at first, but then it hit her.

"Kagura...?"

--

Several meters underground, right beneath the mansion, in a room hidden deep within the damp and wet complex, a man was typing away on a giant computer. Not distracted by the constant bubbling of liquid right next to him, he continued his research. On the screen was the image of a human body. A pattern of lines indicating the blood vessels in the human body, as well as the brain, the heart and the spinal chord were shown on the figure. After putting in all the data, he pressed a single button and ran a simulation. The heart in the image stopped beating and the blood stopped flowing, but right afterwards, a strange purple matter became visible, first clotting up the brain and then spreading all over the body through the bloodvessels. Slowly, the heart started beating again, and the purple substance slowly spread out to the imaginary muscles and organs until all the purple was diffused across the entire body.

"Simulation complete," A female computer voice sounded. "Chances of success : 84%."

_Excellent. I'll be sure to thank him when I get the opportunity. Now, I just need a subject..._

The mysterious man opened up another file and ran his finger across the screen. He then leaned back in his chair.

_Well, I guess I can't afford to be picky. I'll just have to be on watch and wait for a chance. Wait a minute..._

He stood up and took a look at the monitor above him. A smirk formed on his face.

_This is going to be easier than I thought._

The man shared a glance with the large tube next to the computer. Inside of it was a colourless liquid that was constantly in motion. A hollow, throbbing sound came from the inside of the tank, as well as a soft wheezing. Submerged in the liquid was a large, bulky figure, needles and wires injected into its skin. Just for a few seconds, the humanoid opened its small eyes.

"Not quite yet, my precious. Just a little longer..."

The strange creature replied with a weak and low growl. The man cackled softly, caressed the glass tube, and then ran off.

--

"Kagura...? Where'd she go?"

_Wh...What? No way...!_

Shocked, Sakaki turned her head and saw that Kagura, who layed beside her before she fell asleep, was no longer there. Her heart skipped a beat and she jumped up straight.

"Maybe...she went to the bathroom...?" Tomo spoke wishfully.

"Impossible. She wouldn't go alone. Besides, the bathroom as all the way to the other side of the mansion, that would be too dangerous. Kagura isn't this reckless," Yomi replied, a little panicky.

"I-in any case," Chiyo spoke up, "we have to find her!"

"Yeah..." was Yomi's only reply.

Sakaki's whole body shook like she had a fever attack. She grabbed her shotgun and clenched her fist around the handle tightly.

_Don't tell me she's...._

Sakaki stuck her hand in her pocket and felt around. It was like she thought. The helmet key she held in her possession was gone! She must have taken it from her when she was asleep. And because Tomo dozed off, she managed to leave the room without anyone noticing. She knew she was up to something, and she had a faint idea as to what.

Without a warning, Sakaki ran out of the room and looked around.

"Sakaki!" Yomi shouted after her.

Struck with panic, Sakaki dashed through the door into the mirror hallway, while Yomi and the others chased her. Sakaki's heart was beating out of her chest, and a tear trinkled down her cheek.

_Don't you dare do what I think you're going to do, Kagura... I'll never forgive you!_

--

*A few minutes earlier*

Kagura's hand, shaking and sweaty, held a round silver medal with the image of a wolf carved into it. The now empty blue book with the title "Last Book Volume 2" on the cover, which she had found on one of the shelves, layed beside her. Obviously, the medal was related to the golden one she found in the basement. She placed both medals on a small table, and she sat down against the bookshelve. She had found the library; a two stories high, large, square shaped room on the first floor and a ladder leading to a second floor balcony, which was connected to a corridor. Kagura was seated all the way in the back, hidden behind a wall, between the bookshelves.

Kagura stared into nothingness. Her eyes were watery, burning, heavy, hazy. Her throat was dry, her whole body was transpiring and shivering, she felt cold. A fierce pain jolted through her arm. The wound was throbbing. She felt nauseous, her stomach was hurting, a sensation that bordered between a stomach infection and extreme hunger. Her whole body felt like it was slowly being destroyed from the inside.

_Looks like I still had some time left after all._

It was now over 4 hours since she was bitten, and the pain the infection brought got more severe by the minute. How much longer she had she didn't know, but she realised that the more time she stayed by her friends, the more of a threat she became to them, and the more she became scared of herself.

Her eyes dwindled down to the floor, where her Colt Python layed right in front of her. Long she stared at the large, silver gun, pondering and doubting. She bit her lower lip to douse the sharp pain in her arm and leg. Then, she pulled in her legs and curled up into a ball. After sitting there silently for a while longer, she slowly and doubtfully reached her shaking arm towards the gun and picked it up. She held it up in front of her eyes, watching her reflection in the polished steel.

"Dammit, Kagura... You look horrible..." she whispered to herself. "You can't face your friends looking like this, can you...?"

She kept biting her lip until it started bleeding; a small drop of blood ran down to her chin. Before it managed to fall down, it got mixed up with the tears that flowed richly down her face and wouldn't stop coming.

"Everyone... My friends..."

_Everyone_

_I'm sorry..._

_Ever since we got ourselves into this nightmare, we promised eachother we would stick together and fight no matter what. We would give it everything we got, because we didn't want anyone to be left behind; we wanted to escape, all of us together. It hurts me that I can't keep this promise._

_I have been infected. Over 4 hours ago, I was bitten by a zombie while me and Sakaki were separated from the rest of you. Sakaki knew about this, but please don't blame her. It was all my fault. I forced her to keep it a secret because I didn't want anyone else to worry about me. I didn't want to become a burden. Yet it seemed I couldn't do anything right ever since that incident._

_You saved my life when I was as good as dead, but I still blew it in the end. Even when Sakaki, who grew to be my best friend over the past two years, was under attack, I couldn't do anything but stand and stare. Also, if I hadn't been such an idiot, we could have escaped the mansion hours ago already. Even though I always said to never give up, it's all becoming too much for me to handle. I decided to take care of this myself, because I don't want to put you into anymore danger, and I want to save you the heartache of having to do it yourselves._

_I have left two items on the table that might help you to escape. Also, please take my weapons and ammunition with you. After this, they will become useless to me._

_I'm sorry for lying to you all, and Sakaki, I'm sorry for forcing you to lie for me. Please forgive me for doing this, and don't cry for me too much. Sakaki, Tomo, Yomi, Chiyo, Osaka... Please make it out alive, I wouldn't be more happy if you did._

_I was so lucky to be friends with all of you..._

The note was laying on the table beside the two amulets, waiting to be picked up by Kagura's beloved friends. And Kagura, tears still flowing down her face, was now holding the barrel of her Magnum against the side of her head. She closed her eyes, and with her shaking hand, she slowly squeezed the trigger.

The only thing going through her mind now were those sorrowful words.

_I'm so sorry..._

--

Sakaki ran through the hallway with the knight trap where she and the rest of her friends were almost killed hours ago. But she couldn't reflect back to that at all. The only thing she could do was run, run as fast as she could, hoping she wasn't already too late. The fact that the rest of the group was trailing behind didn't slow her down. Each time anyone asked what was going on, she ignored it and kept running.

_You fool, you fool, you fool! Don't you dare do that to us!_

But suddenly...

Sakaki nearly tripped over the pedestal sticking out the ground, stumbled and then came to a complete halt. One heartbeat, and time stood still for her, as the sound of a heavy gunshot closeby echoed across the hallway and steadily died out.

Sakaki's whole body froze, even her face was locked on the exact same expression. An expression of disbelief; eyes wide, tears welling up and mouth half open. That's how she stood there seconds long. That was definitely Kagura's Magnum revolver, no doubt about it. She recognized the sound of it. Her hand lost its grip over the shotgun she was carrying and it fell to the ground.

"N...no..."

So close, she was so close. 30 more seconds and she could have stopped her. She could have still made it in time, but she was too slow. Too slow to save her best friend.

"K..."

Sakaki tried to force back her tears, but she couldn't stop them from leaking out. When her expression finally changed from disbelief to frustration and despair, she clenched her jaws shut firmly and shook her head in a shocking manner. She wanted to yell, to scream, but nothing came out.

"K...Ka..."

"That gunshot...don't tell me..." Tomo muttered.

"What? What happened?!" asked Chiyo. "Sakaki-san, what's going on?"

Osaka didn't say anything. She didn't fully understand what happened either. And Yomi, she clenched her fist and looked down to the ground. The light reflecting in her glasses made her eyes invisible. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Kagura...why did you...?" she mumbled sadly.

Finally, Sakaki collapsed to her hands and knees. Teardrops fell to the ground, creating small dark circles on the stone floor. She sobbed loudly and clearly for everyone to hear, and in between, spoke those hopeless words that, although incredibly painful, had to be said, even though no one wanted to hear them.

"Ka...Kagura,...she...she committed suicide..."


	22. Disappearance

_Chapter 22, ready and a go!_

_Well, at least this one came out sooner than the last one. Plus, it's longer! Sorry to keep you guys waiting._

_Hope you enjoy it a little!_

_Don't forget to R&R!  
_

* * *

Chapter 22 : Disappearance

"Wh…what? What are you talking about? That's impossible!" Tomo nearly shouted, after getting herself over the shock of the statement.

But Sakaki didn't say anything. She just sat there; biting her own lip again with tears streaming from her eyes.

"Say something!"

After getting no response from the wallowing girl anymore, Tomo turned to the rest of her friends, who were standing nailed to the ground, all with the same clueless expression on their faces.

"What, are you all on drugs or something? Or am I dreaming this? Why are you all standing there like that? What the hell is goi-"

"Shut up, Tomo!" Yomi cut her off, screaming loudly. "Nobody of us knows what's going on, ok? The only one who knows about this obviously doesn't want to talk, so..."

Tomo growled and looked like she wanted to punch someone. She turned around and stomped further down the hallway. "Well, who gives a shit anyway," she snarled. "I don't know what happened, but Kagura would never kill herself, never! You hear me?"

Tomo stormed towards the small set of stairs leading down, leaving the rest of the group behind.

"Tomo... Hey, Tomo! Where are you going?" Yomi yelled, but got no response from the clearly upset girl.

"W-we should go check on her..." Chiyo stammered. "I-I mean, on Kagura..."

Chiyo didn't know what to feel. She was confused, but mostly frightened. The announcement Sakaki made wasn't sinking in at all. It all just seemed surreal, and way too sudden, like some kind of bad dream, like Tomo said. Her legs were constantly shaking.

Osaka wasn't much different. She was staring at nothing in particularly, while loads of questions played around in her head. _What did she just say_, _how could that be_ and most of all _why would she do that._ Although some part of her knew that she should be crying, she couldn't locate such emotion. Then suddenly, she just started running. Her brain must have phazed, because it was several seconds later that she realised it. She also noticed Chiyo running along side her.

Tomo grabbed the handle of the door leading to the library, but then she suddenly froze. Her hand shook so much that the handle of the door clattered like crazy. All of a sudden, she was more scared than she ever was before. Scared about what she might find on the other side of that door. Visions of her friend with her brains blown out her skull haunted her mind. Cold sweat broke out and she started breathing erratically, in short but heavy bursts. It was the horrifying realisation that, if Kagura was really lying dead in that room, there would be no way that she would be able to handle it. When Osaka and Chiyo caught up with her, Tomo was just standing there, staring at the door handle.

"Tomo...?" Chiyo asked carefully.

But she didn't respond. Her limp hand fell off the handle and dangled by her side. She couldn't do it; she couldn't open this door despite of how sure she was of her case.

"H...hey, Chiyo-chan," she said, "you don't believe it, do you? I mean, what Sakaki said about..."

Chiyo was as confused as Tomo was, so she didn't know what to answer. She just shook her head in order not to upset her.

"Then...," she continued, "could you open this door? I'm just really tense right now. I'll go in, I promise. But, could you just...you know..."

Chiyo silently nodded. Nervously, she reached for the doorhandle.

But then, fate took another turn for the worse. The sound of shattering glass was heard not far behind the door. Something obviously forced itself in through the window. Tomo, Osaka and Chiyo were startled by the sudden noise took a step back.

"Huh? Now what...?" said Tomo.

A menacing screech and the sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor followed. The longer it went on, the farther it moved away from them.

The noise didn't go by unnoticed by Sakaki and Yomi, who were still in same spot as they were a minute ago. They both quickly caught up with the rest, but when they got there, the dragging noise had already died out.

"What was that?" Yomi asked.

Tomo carefully pressed her ear against the door. "I don't hear anything anymore... Maybe it left."

Finally, Tomo decided to go in. If Kagura was still in there, and that thing as well, she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. She opened the door without making too much noise, with the others following behind closely. The first thing she noticed in the hallway she entered was the broken window on the left hand side to her right. Several bloodstains were on the shards lying on the floor. This was obviously where that thing broke through. Cautiously, she avoided the shards and passed the corner to the right. At the end of the hallway, just a few meters further, there was light, and it led to a larger room and, as far as they could tell, a balcony of some sort. As the light grew brighter, a large, thick line became apparent in the dust on the floor. Something big was dragged along here. Suddenly a hiss sounded from that very room, and the same dragging sound became audible again. Nervously, Tomo peered behind the corner of the wall, and she was now looking down into a library of some sort. This room was obviously on the first floor, but it was so big that it occupied the second floor as well.

"Oh my God...!"

Tomo whispered these words as she saw what was down there. A gargantuan snake, at least 10 meters long, sporting venomous fangs of nearly half a meter each. Dark green scales and brown crests on the back of its huge head, and a nastly looking burnwound on its side. Its mouth was overflowing with a mixture of saliva and putrid yellow venom. What a monster!

Tomo's mouth fell open and she took out her camera. She had to record something as incredible as this. If she wasn't in the situation that she was in now, she would have thought this thing was "so cool!" To her, it looked more like some kind of dinosaur.

"Guys! There's a huge snake down there," she whispered.

"What? That thing again?" Yomi said.

"We didn't kill it, r'member?" Osaka pointed out.

Tomo didn't mind what they were talking about. She took cover behind the bars on the balustrade and looked around the room. The snake didn't seem to notice her, which was good. It was just roaming around the room. No matter where she looked, she couldn't see her friend anywhere. Not from where she was standing at least. Then she got to thinking; maybe Kagura had already escaped! That, or maybe that snake ate her! That was something she couldn't think about. But something was eating her; she actually started considering that Kagura might really be dead.

"Well?" Yomi asked. "Do you see anything?"

Tomo turned her head to her and shook negatively. "No... I don't think she's here, guys..."

"But," Sakaki began, "she has to be here! The door was unlocked, and we heard the gunshot and..."

Then it hit them. The gunshot. There was no monster there beside the snake, no corpse of a zombie or anything. Then what other reason would there have been for Kagura to fire her gun? And it couldn't have been anyone else, because the door leading to this library was locked, and Sakaki was the only one who had the key, as far as they knew. Kagura most likely concealed herself somewhere first, as Tomo couldn't see her body from the balcony. They wanted to do a thorough check to be sure, but going down there was way too dangerous now. And because Sakaki obviously knew something that the rest didn't, a motive of some sort, they could make it as good as official. Kagura was dead.

Tomo gripped the railing tightly as she realised this. She bit her lower lip and shook her head.

"Come on, let's just get out of here. I don't wanna stay here," she said, trying her best to hide her sadness.

But when she looked down into the library one last time, the snake had disappeared! The reptilian giant was gone!

"Huh? Where did it go?"

Then she looked way down as far as she could. From in between the bars of the railing, she saw a yellow eye with cat-like pupils looking straight at her. That damn thing was underneath the balcony.

As fast as lightning, the serpent latched its huge fangs into the wooden balustrade. Tomo yelped but didn't have time to react. The snake forcefully tore off a big chunk of the railing and a part of the floor. Pieces of wood flew through the air and Tomo lost her footing.

"Tomo!" everyone yelled.

The Wildcat fell down to the second floor and bounced off on the scaly back of the snake before she hit the floor. The snake, now so close to her that she could touch it, hissed viciously and tried to gnaw at her. Tomo quickly got up and ran to the other side of the room.

"Oh man, oh man, why am I still filming this?"

The snake now turned all its attention to her. It bared its dripping fangs and swifly slithered towards her in a slaloming motion. Tomo held her riot gun in one hand as well as she could and fired. But the recoil was too great for her to handle with just one arm. The hail hit the snake in the belly, making it flinch, but Tomo was knocked back and hit the double door behind her. To make matters worse, she lost grip of her gun and it fell out of her hands. Furiously, the snake launched at her, trying to eat her whole. Tomo managed to get out of the way just in time, and the reptile slammed the door out its hinges. Strangely, although severely damaged, it managed to hold.

Back on the balcony, the girls opened fire on the monster, except for Sakaki and Yomi. Using their weapons from that angle would have been too dangerous; they might have hurted Tomo.

"Sakaki! This way, come on!"

Yomi led Sakaki to a steel ladder leading down to the first floor. "Chiyo and Osaka, you guys cover us from here. Sakaki, we have to surround this thing and kill it this time!" she ordered.

Yomi and Sakaki climbed down the ladder, but the Yawn noticed them. Next, it did something that none of them saw coming. It took a single seated couch that was sitting in the corner of the room in its mouth, and hurled it towards the girls that were coming to the rescue. It didn't hit them, but it was thrown with such power that it broke into pieces as it smashed into the wall. As dust and splinters rained down, Yomi and Sakaki protected their faces with their arms, wondering what in the world just happened!

With Sakaki and Yomi distracted, the giant snake went in for its meal. Tomo, slowly stepping backwards, stared into the rediculously large maw of the monster. That thing was going to swallow her whole in just mere seconds. Was this the end?

"Get down!"

Tomo barely registered that voice yelling at her, but quickly ducked down and covered her head. Loud gunshots sounded behind her, four of them. The bullets plowed straight through the armoured skin of the reptile with ease, and with every hit, its long body trashed and convulsed, until it fell down with a loud and low thud.

Doubtfully, Tomo opened her eyes. The carcass of the snake was right before her, its still eyes still staring at her. Unbelievable but true, Tomo was saved from certain death again, just in the nick of time. And by the person they were looking for no less. Tomo turned around and smiled in relief.

"Kagura, I knew it!"

Kagura smiled meekly and opened the barrel of her magnum. 6 empty shells fell to the ground. Before she could put in fresh slugs however, her face became serious again. She ran up to Tomo, grabbed her by the waist and threw her and herself to the side just in time to dodge the Yawn lashing out at them again. But because of that, the giant got its head stuck between the bookcase and the wall. Desperately, the overgrown animal struggled to free itself from its predicament, and it looked like it would succeed soon.

"Dammit, that thing just won't die!" Kagura said as she pulled herself up from the ground. Quickly, she inserted 6 new slugs in her Magnum and fired one shot after another from close range. Again, with each blast, the snake shrieked and writhed in agony until it let out its final hiss and stopped moving. After that, Kagura kicked the huge corpse a few times and sat down on it exhausted.

No matter how relieved everyone was that Kagura was still among the living, especially Sakaki, they still expected some kind of explanation from her. As to why she abandoned the group when they were all asleep, and most of all, why Sakaki was so sure that she actually commited suicide. Kagura had no choice now but to spill it. They all gathered around her as she still sat upon the corpse of the Yawn.

"I'm sorry guys," she started. "There are some things I haven't told you. I ehh... I don't know where to start actually."

"I'm guessing that your disappearance is connected to what Sakaki insinuated," said Yomi. "Why don't you start explaining why you left in the first place."

Kagura sat quiet for a bit. The rest was getting worried about what she going to say.

"It's true. I did want to kill myself. In fact, I was completely prepared." She looked like she was trying to avoid the matter, like she was afraid to give the whole explanation.

"I'm just not sure how to say this..."

"Kagura...," Sakaki interrupted. "If you don't say it, I will. We can't keep this a secret anymore."

Kagura gulped and nodded. She nervously started twiddling her tumbs.

"So you do know more than we do after all," Yomi said. She was starting to get aggitated with all the mysteriousness surrounding those two.

"The reason I left...is because..." Kagura stuttered. "Well, I'll just show you..."

Carefully, she brought her right hand to the bandages on her left arm and slowly unwrapped them. When the bloodied bandages fell to the floor, Yomi brought her hand to her face and pinched her nose bridge in both discomfort and frustration. "My God, Kagura..."

Osaka, Chiyo, Tomo and even Sakaki winced in disgust when they saw Kagura's arm, but most of all, it shocked them, because the prints of human teeth were clearly visible as deep lacerations.

"It's gotten way worse, too...," she murmured.

She was right. Not only was there a major bitewound, but the whole area around it was infected, despite Sakaki's treatment. Swollen, suppurating, throbbing, red and hot, and the first signs of necrosis around the bitemarks. Kagura whole upper left arm was a plethora of infection. A nasty looking mess that obviously needed serious treatment, and fast.

"When did this happen...?" Tomo asked, finally over the shock of the revelation.

"When Sakaki and I were seperated from you after the incident with the spiders. That zombie just came out from the dark, and I couldn't do anything. Before I knew it, I was bitten. I'm sorry..."

"You're sorry...?" Yomi commented sarcastically. "I knew it! I fucking knew it all along! All that stuff about being caught by a nail was just a bullshit story, wasn't it?"

Yomi was clearly angry. She was yelling and nervously pacing to and fro. "So you lied to us. And you, Sakaki, you just went along with it and lied with her, didn't you?"

Sakaki swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

"Man, why didn't you tell us?"

"Because," Kagura tried to explain. "Because if I had told you, you would all just worry about me! I didn't want to slow you down, I didn't want to put you in danger!"

To this, Yomi laughed out loud. It was a frightening laugh, making Kagura feel like she just said something completely stupid.

"You didn't want to put us in danger. So you kept the fact that you were infected hidden from us, so we didn't know that we were walking around with someone who could zombify at any damn minute. How's that for putting us in danger?"

Kagura's eyes were now wide open and she was on the edge of crying. She was right. When she was always thinking that she would only be a burden, she put her friends in danger. She was a ticking time bomb, and nobody but Sakaki was aware. How could she be so stupid?

"YOMI!" Tomo snapped. "How could you say something like that? She is our friend goddammit! It's true she made a mistake, but that's no reason to say something so inconsiderate!"

Tomo trying to put her in her place? That's something Yomi didn't need to take. Her face turned to an expression more venomous than the dead snake on the floor.

"You know what? I've had enough of this crap! I really did my best to keep us all together and help you all to the best of my abilities. I tried so hard, and what did you all do? Run off recklessly, doing utterly stupid things that nearly got you all killed, lying and keeping things from eachother."

Meanwhile, Osaka, Chiyo and Sakaki stood at the sidelines of the argument, not saying a word. They just regularly looked at eachother.

"And I'm sick of it! Everytime, at least one of you guys screw me over, and I'm always the one that's supposed to keep it all together. Well, this time, I'm pissed off. I'm really pissed off, you know that?" she yelled.

"You're acting like it's all about you. Because oh, you never do anything wrong do you? It's simply impossible, cause you're miss perfect! Stop pretending that you're the only victim here, while poor Kagura is infected!" Tomo yelled back.

Yomi was now boiling with rage, like she could take off her glasses and crush them in her hand any time now.

"You're my friend too, Yomi. But I never knew you could be such a selfish cunt!"

That was the final straw. Yomi clenched her fist, pulled it back, and lunged it out at Tomo. The smaller girl closed her eyes and braced herself for impact, but Yomi restrained herself from using violence at the last moment. Yomi huffed, turned on her heel and walked away towards the ladder, leaving Tomo and the others behind.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving..." she grunted.

"You can't leave! What about the whole running away deal you were preaching about a minute ago?"

"If you can all do it, then so can I, right?" she answered while scurrying up the ladder.

"But... Come on Yomi, we don't have time for this..."

"Just leave me alone for a while, okay?"

After that, she vanished from sight, and a few seconds later the door could be heard opening and closing. Tomo sighed deeply.

"She's really mad now, ain't she?" Osaka said.

Kagura was clearly depressed. All the things Yomi said had a deep impact on her. Tomo tried to comfort her by talking to her, while Sakaki did some additional treatment; removing the dead tissue, wiping away the pus and using some more desinfectants to calm the inflammation down, hopefully.

"But Kagura," Tomo said. "We heard a gunshot in the other hallway. What was that all about?"

"Oh, that. Well, like I said, I really did intend to shoot myself, I was ready even. I even prepared a note. But, I guess I couldn't do something like that to myself in the end. So I..."

Tomo cornered her eyes and laughed. "Let me guess, you fired a bullet up into the air."

"...ehh... Yeah, exactly," she answered puzzled.

"Haha, could you have picked a more clichéd way to not commit suicide at the last moment?" Tomo giggled.

A smile appeared on Kagura's face and she started giggling too. "Maybe I should have thrown the gun aside, psyched it and busted out a victory dance!"

"You mean like this?" Tomo beamed. She jumped up and started doing random disco moves.

"Hah, no way! I'd look like a total fool!" she laughed.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Tomo and Kagura genuinely laughed out loud for the first time in quite a while, and they had to admit, it felt good.

"Hey, Kagura. We're going to find you that antidote for sure. Well, that's what I would like to say, but I promise you we'll do our best."

"Yeah, that would be nice. But, you know, even if you don't, just know that I won't be too upset about it. I mean, I think I could accept it now...," she answered.

Tomo looked down to the ground, but then smiled and nodded. "Okay, noted."

Meanwhile, Osaka was taking a look behind the bookcase. The large head of the snake was stuck on the opposite side, wounds right behind the head as signs of its struggle to get free. On the floor was a note, shredded into many tiny pieces, so it was impossible for her to decipher it. Among the shreds was an empty blue book, and some rubble. When she looked up to the ceiling, she saw a chunk of the wood blown out, and a small hole in the middle of it. And on the table were two round medallions, a silver one with the image of a wolf, and a golden one with an eagle on it. Curiously, she picked them up and studied them. She walked from behind the bookcase and asked Kagura about them.

"Hey, uhm, Kagura? You were b'hind that bookcase there, right? What're these?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot! I found one of those in the basement, and the other one I found behind the bookcase. I wanted to leave them to you guys, but now I forgot about them..."

"Oh, guess ah'll keep hold a' these then, kay?"

"Sure, be my guest."

It took some time until Sakaki was ready with Kagura's wound. At least it looked relatively clean now, and hopefully it could now slowly heal without too many consequences. Chiyo looked up to the balcony and sighed.

"Yomi-san hasn't come back yet..."

"Well, let's just go get her," Tomo reasoned. "She's probably cooled down by now, but I bet she's too embarrased to come back out of her own."

So one by one, they climbed back up the ladder and moved back through the knight corridor. But when they made it back into the mirror hallway, suspicion rose when there was still no sign of Yomi.

"Yomi? Hey, were did you go?" Tomo shouted.

They looked all over the hallway, but to no avail. They came to the conclusion that she probably hid herself into one of the rooms. They decided to split up and search the perimeter. Sakaki and Chiyo headed for the room where they slept, but once there, they found out it was empty. After that, they went downstairs and checked the resting room where they also took a breather before, but no succes either.

"This is bad," Sakaki said. "Yomi wouldn't have gone further than this, I'm sure."

"Maybe the others have found her already...," Chiyo sad hopefully.

"We can't go beyond this corridor. There's monsters next door."

"Yeah, you're right. But let's go look in that other room first."

Meanwhile, Tomo, Osaka and Kagura were investigating the door at the end of the mirror hallway. They checked the door on the opposite side of the knight corridor, but once they opened it, they were greeted with the cawing of several mutant crows. They even checked if Yomi hadn't accidentally fallen victim to the crows or something, but they saw nothing out of the ordinary, so that room was out of the question. The only places they could check out now were the storage room and the space around the elevator leading down to the kitchen. She was nowhere to found here. Down the elevator shaft, they could hear the growls, screeches and croaks of the Hunters.

"Those things are still down there," Kagura said.

"They've smelled blood..." Osaka commented. "Yomi couldn't 've gone down there. And that door there leads back to th' library."

"Dammit. Let's go back already," Tomo said frustrated. "She's not here. Let's hope Sakaki and Chiyo had more luck."

As both teams headed back to the mirror hallway, it became obvious that something strange was going on. Most of the West wing of the mansion was either a danger zone, or completely impassable. And they've checked pretty much every place that Yomi could have run off to. She couldn't have ran right into the Hunter's arms; that was highly unlikely for her. Even when angry, she was a straight thinker after all, so she would have gone to a safe place. But, much to everyone's worries, she wasn't here. The only place they could go now was...the main hall.

"This is rediculous!" Tomo steamed. "Remember those zombie dogs in the main hall? Because I sure do. There's no way Yomi would've gone there, no way at all! She's not stupid, you know?"

After that was a strange silence, in which the rest of the group tried to think of something to argue with her.

"But, Tomo..." Sakaki started carefully. "She's not here."

"Yeah, I don't get it either, but the main hall is the only place she could've gone to now, and the only place left for us to go for that matter," Kagura continued.

Tomo huffed and crossed her arms. "I guess... But the dining room is fried, thanks to our missing girl. How are we gonna get there?"

"There's one way, but it's a little risky," Osaka informed her. "There's an outside balcony on th' side of th' mansion. If we'd take that, we should end up in th' main hall. I'm a little scared'a those mutts though."

So it was settled. They headed back to the staircase room, and from there was an old, rusty door that lead to the long balcony. There was a chilly morning breeze that met them as soon as they stepped out. The rays of the dawning sun shone through the dense pack of trees and casted a distinct, moving pattern of shadows onto the mansion. Unbelievable yet true, but it was almost 10 o'clock in the morning now. At least the forest seemed a lot less creepy in the sunlight, but the howling and growling of the Cerberus in the near distance was still unsettling.

While the group walked across the balcony, sheltered by the roof, something caught Osaka's eyes in between the humid bushes and trees. It was a moving figure. A zombie, she first assumed. But then it occured to her that it walked really oddly. Something like a dragging motion, hunched forward like some wounded animal. She couldn't quite see it because it was concealed in the shadows. She only saw it for a few seconds, then it was gone. She couldn't help but feel like she saw that...thing once before.

"Guys!" she said with a lowered voice. "I think ah saw somethin' down there!"

"So?" Tomo replied.

"So, it looked really weird an' all! Kinda like a... Look! There it is!"

Indeed, there was something moving in the bushes. But since the area around the mansion was quite dense with low growing vegetation, it was an ideal hiding place.

"It's probably just a zombie. Now let's get going!" Tomo pushed on.

Then, there was a faint moan coming somewhere from those bushes. The group was stiffened and startled for a second, but especially Tomo, who could recognize that sound anywhere. She stared at the still moving bush, hoping to be wrong. Perhaps it was still a zombie after all. But then she heard that sound she didn't want to hear, confirming what she was fearing.

The sound of a rattling chain.

"That woman...," she panicked. "Why did she have to come out here...?"

Tomo rallied the others and they hurried across the balcony. They were wrong; even in daylight, this forest was freaky as hell! Although she could get back inside fast enough, she still cautiously opened the door to the main hall. Much to their surprise, it was very calm and quiet in there. No footsteps, no growls, no sounds of heavy breathing, no nothing. Carefully, Tomo and Osaka peered over the railing and down into the hall.

"Well, the zombie dogs 're dead...," Osaka concluded.

"What? Dead?" Chiyo said.

"Yup, deader than ever."

"Maybe it was Yomi," Tomo pondered.

"Nah, 'fraid not. Yomi only has a grenade launcher, an' there's no signs of explosions here or anythin'. These things were shot."

"Wesker then?" Tomo figured.

"Probably."

They walked down the stairs to the first floor of the hall. What was once a safe haven for them was now littered with dog corpses, dried blood and broken glass. The door to the dining room was severely damaged from the blast. But once again, no sign of Yomi or anyone else. The girls were now running out of options. They would keep looking for her, but they didn't have much time to waste. They had to find a way to the laboratories quickly to take care of Kagura. But Kagura insisted they'd continue their search for Yomi, as it was "all her fault" to begin with. Tomo didn't know what to do anymore. Sure, she wanted to save Kagura, but she couldn't just keep Yomi hanging. She sat down on the stairs with her head cupped in her hand.

"YOMI! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" she suddenly shouted from the top of her lungs.

"Ahhh, Tomo-chan, not so loud!" Chiyo panicked.

Tomo calmed down after a while and got to thinking, about everything. None of this made any sense. Even though Yomi was pissed, she couldn't have run away to the other wing of the mansion. There was no sign of her, they didn't find her weapon, no blood and no body either.

"Yomi's been kidnapped," she abruptly concluded.

Quite a daring statement, but it was the only explanation she could give.

"Huh? By who?" Chiyo asked.

"I dunno! Maybe by some people in the laboratories down below who want to use her as a guinnea pig."

"But I thought everyone here was dead. That's what the files said anyway. This place was abandoned weeks ago," Sakaki argued.

"Peh, maybe that was all a lie. I don't know... Maybe it could have been him..."

"Who? You dun' think it could've been Wesker, do ya?"

"Could be! When's the last time we even heard of him? And how come we never run into him unless one of us is in a pickle?" she said.

"So you don't trust him either, huh?" Kagura joined in.

"Well, does anyone here actually trust him?" Tomo asked very matter of factly.

"I uhh..." Osaka stammered. "Ya know, 'cause he...left us all these weapons and such, and he saved our hinds a few times. But he is a li'l suspicious, that's true."

Tomo frowned and hummed softly. "Yeah, well maybe, just maybe, he did that because he wants to keep us alive for some reason. Maybe he's planning something with us. Maybe Yomi was first, and one of us could be next."

"But c'mon, he's a member of the S.T.A.R.S., a captain even if ah remember right. Why would a police officer kidnap one of us? Unless..."

"Unless that whole being a member of special forces thing is a cover up!" Tomo finished Osaka's sentence.

Tomo stood up and looked more serious than she'd ever looked. "Don't you think it's a bit weird that a police officer leaves six weak, young girls to fend for themselves with nothing but a bunch of guns he supposedly left for them? What about the whole "serve and protect" responsibility?"

The rest of the group stood amazed and baffled at Tomo's words as she continued to ramble.

"I'm telling you, everything about him just stinks. Every now and then, he shows up behind those creepy sunglasses and saves the day, and a minute later, he leaves again saying he has "something important to do", when he should have stayed with us since the very beginning. Speaking of which, what was up with those letters he left us when we first got here? Either he needs to get his ass fired pronto, or he is up to something bad."

When Tomo was done, the only thing Sakaki could get over her lips was "Wow..."

"What?"

"Ah, no, it's just that..." she spoke up, "that was exactly what I was thinking from the very beginning."

"That's amazin' Tomo-chan! You really should become a detective one day!" Osaka said.

"You mean you couldn't figure that out by yourself?" Tomo sweat dropped. "Anyway, I'm not saying it WAS Wesker who kidnapped Yomi, I don't have any proof for that. I'm just saying it's very possible is all. But I'm sure Yomi was taken away; no doubt about that."

"So then, we should find a way to those laboratories now either way, right?" Chiyo said.

"Exactly," Tomo nodded proudly.

"Well then, let's get going!" said Kagura.

They were about ready to move on, but there was still one door in the main hall left unopened. The one to the left of the gallery. Kagura used her key and slowly opened it. Behind it was a strange room. It was very classy, much like most of the mansion. A beautifully carpeted floor, a study desk in the back and a huge bronze globe in the center of the room. But on the shelves to the left were several bottles. In these bottles were strange organisms; creatures even they had never seen before. Each bottle was filled with a light yellow liquid, most likely formaldehyde for preservation. These things caught Tomo and Kagura's attention, as they were both staring at the content. The critter looked like an amphibian and human hybrid; tiny hands and fingers like a human fetus, but frog like eyes and skin.

"Whoa, look at that! What is this thing?" Tomo mused.

"Creepy... Like it could jump out at us at any moment," Kagura said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that happened."

Searching the furniture in the room turned out to be fruitless, but there was another door at the end of a narrow corridor. Behind this door was another room. One with a giant mirror as a wall. On the opposite side of this mirror were red curtains fixed to the ceiling, and a cupboard to the right. In this cupboard they found a strange box, which was locked. On top of this box was the Umbrella logo, strange, grey shards on each side of the box and an indentation on the front side. It looked like a gem would fit in this hole. Tomo didn't doubt and placed the red emerald in the hole. Much to her surprise, the box didn't open, but the grey shards fell off the sides of the box instead.

"Huh? Hey, what the..."

On each shard, which were all differently shaped, was a relief, apparently some kind of complete picture, which more or less looked like it could fit on top of the box.

"Yer supposed ta put the pieces t'gether, I think," said Osaka.

"What?" Tomo wailed. "Are you serious? No way, you do it Osaka!"

"Ehm, no, I'm not good at these kinda puzzles, sorry."

Tomo grumbled and sat down, trying to fit all the stone pieces in the octagonal indentation.

"Man, they took the whole puzzling thing a bit too literal here," she grumbled.

Tomo fiddled around with the pieces for what would be several minutes, while the others tried to coach her.

"Ah, no, I think that goes here!" Kagura pointed.

"No, I don't think that's gonna fit," Sakaki noted.

"Try turnin' this one around an' put it on top!" said Osaka.

"You can slide this one in...in the middle!" Chiyo guessed.

"Argh, enough with the obvious innuendos already!" Tomo barked. "And one at a time, please!"

After another few minutes, Tomo finally managed to complete the puzzle. Unfortunately, even after completion, she couldn't tell what the image was supposed to be. At least the box opened now, and inside was a golden broach shaped a little like a shield with a red stone in the middle. When she took it out, she must have accidentally pressed a switch, because suddenly, the broach turned into a key.

"Another key... ," Tomo sighed. "How many more are we gonna need?"

But instead of complaining, she put the broach key in her pocket and they got out of there, back to the main hall. From here on, they moved through the gallery and into the corridor with the many windows. Since the coast was still clear here, they pressed on into the next hallway.

"Say, where exactly are we going anyway?" Tomo suddenly asked no one in particular.

"Huh?" the rest of the group exclaimed.

"Whaddaya mean? We were followin' you!" Osaka pointed out.

"Oh, really? Well, I guess I don't really know..." Tomo laughed nervously.

That's Tomo for ya. The whole group sighed.

"I still have this battery here," Osaka said as she held it up, "an' you have some key. Ah reckon we should look for some door we haven't open'd yet."

"Okay, but then what?" said Chiyo.

Osaka thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"Doesn't anyone remember anything? Something strange that we haven't checked out yet?" Chiyo inquired.

Osaka started thinking deeply, and then she remembered something. "Oh, right!"

"Outside," she said, while pointing towards the direction she thought was the right one. "I remember seein' this waterfall, and behind it was this big dark hole! Ah thought it looked a bit fishy, but ah couldn't get in because o' that floodgate Kagura open'd before. But now that ah'm thinkin' about it, we probably can't get there with the gate open."

"Wait a minute, you might be on to something," said Kagura. "I think I remember seeing an elevator close to that waterfall, but it didn't work. It was missing a battery. I think that elevator lead back to that plaza right before that giant pool with the floodgate."

"Well, I have the battery right here," said Osaka.

"Great!" Chiyo continued. "So, if we get that elevator to work, we can close the gate and go investigate that tunnel behind the waterfall."

"Alrighty then, but here's a question. Do we really wanna go inside that dark, scary tunnel?" Tomo questioned with her arms crossed.

"Well, no, but it might lead us to the underground labs," the youngest of the team argued.

"Or to something completely else. Something very dangerous, that is. I know we have to go in there, but I'm just saying we shouldn't go unprepared."

Once again, the girls were baffled by Tomo's strangely wise words. Maybe because now that Yomi was missing, she felt like she had to play the leader or something. Well, it was a welcome change.

"That's so unlike you, Tomo," Kagura said. "The old you would've just barged in there with no second thought."

"Well, maybe the old me was just an idiot."

"But..., you're still an idiot, Tomo," Kagura teased.

Tomo pinched one eye half shut and looked at her with a "what did you just say" expression.

"Tomo's right, I guess, but we don't have much time to lose. Besides, I don't think we can be any more prepared than we already are. We'll just have to be extra careful."

Wise words from the most silent one of the group. Maybe Sakaki would be most fit to be the leader after all.

And so, with fresh plans made, they moved forward, totally unaware of what would be waiting for them underground. Also, unbeknownst to them, something was stalking them from outside of the mansion.

* * *

Wata : Haha! Seriously? Did you think I would kill off Kagura just like that? Think again. I bet you've been biting your nails up until now, trying to think of a possible outcome to the last chapter, maybe even losing sleep over it! No? Oh, okay then. Kagura's still alive...for now.

And now Yomi's missing? Yeah, that's right, I'm not giving you guys ANY breaks. So make sure to wait for the next one as well, and you'd better be there!

Yomi : Damn you...


	23. The Subterranean Labyrinth

_Chapter 23 is done!_

_I'll keep this short..._

_Enjoy! XD_

* * *

Chapter 23 : The Subterranean Labyrinth

The mansion's exit, leading to the courtyard, was right around the corner. But as luck would have it, one of the last unopened doors was right on their path. It was the one right next to the door leading to the staircase room. It looked slightly different than most other doors though, as it was decorated with a bronze knocker in the shape of a lion's head. Beneath the handle was a crest, shaped like a shield, just like the broach key Tomo found. She used the key and opened the door. There was a small and scanty room with a desk in the back, some paintings hanging from the wall and small cupboards to the left and right, filled with documents. In the back of the study room was a window, quite large and giving a good view of the forest. Sakaki brought her face close to the window and looked outside. In between the dead trees, she saw a building. It was the shack where they were supposed to go next in order to get to the courtyard. She could also see the downhill path to the lonely cabin where they found Tomo when she got separated. But there was something odd about it all. The door of the shack leading to said path was open, swinging in the wind. This was a little strange, because when they were there last time, they surely closed it. They had to, or else they would've become bird food. So then, why was it open? Or, to be precise, why was it _left _open? Did something try to follow them back then, or, did a monster just happened to have passed by?

"Oh well," Sakaki thought to herself. She searched the desk in front of her, but found nothing but a bunch of paperwork that didn't seem useful, and some writing material. But when she opened the drawer, she did find something strange, and familiar at the same time.

It was an octagonal object, made of steel. It had the Umbrella logo on the background, and that same shield emblem in the center as the broach key and on the door. Sakaki turned to her friends and showed the item to them.

"Hey," Kagura noted, "it's that thing we found down in that crypt back there! Or...no wait! This one doesn't have a stone frame."

"Yeah," Sakaki said. "But why do you think there's two of these?"

Tomo wasn't really following, since she wasn't there when they found the first one. She was having fun laying unconscious in that cabin at the time. But she did bring up the shield logo.

"Whaddaya think this logo means anyway? I've seen it a bunch of times before."

Chiyo took the medallion from Sakaki and took a good look at it. "I don't know, but it could be some sort of family crest, of that Spencer person."

"Oh, but hey!" Tomo changed the subject again. "You said you found another one like this, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, I just came up with this, but, when we first got here, and I was under the stairway in the hall, there was this big metal gate with stairs leading down behind it. On that fence, there were two holes, both shaped like that," she said as she pointed at the medallion.

"Now that you mention it, I saw something like that too," said Kagura.

"So you're saying that these...medallions, would fit in that gate and open it?" said Sakaki.

"Not unlikely, since there's two of them," Chiyo reasoned.

"So, so, we should go get that other one and go down there!" Tomo pushed on.

"But, it's not complete! The frame's missin'," Osaka pointed out.

Tomo marched up to the desk and searched all the drawers, but the missing frame was nowhere to be found. Looks like they had no choice but to continue searching for it.

"Okay, let's go to the courtyard then. Maybe we'll find something in that tunnel or whatever. Huh, Chiyo-chan, what's wrong?"

Chiyo stared at the window with wide, frightened eyes. "Tomo-chan, look out! Behind you!"

Tomo turned around and saw two skinny arms raised up in the air, just outside the window, with big wooden shackles stuck to the wrists. A fraction of a second later, it smashed the window to bits, and the creature screamed loudly.

"Oh no, let's get outta here!" Tomo panicked.

As the girls ran out of the room, the monster jumped in through the broken window and landed on the desk, where it stood tall, twitched heavily, and howled eerily. Sakaki slammed the door shut. The sound of the chains being tossed around gave away that it was coming for them. They fled out of the mansion and into the alley, where they stopped for a moment and caught their breath.

"Man, that was scary!" Osaka panted. "Mah heart's beatin' outta mah chest!"

"Why did we stop?" Chiyo asked.

"Don't worry," Tomo puffed. "That thing's not faster than a zombie. We should be fine now."

Suddenly, there was a bash at the iron door, slamming it out of its hinges. The strange mutant croaked viciously and continued the chase, much faster than Tomo could have estimated.

"Shit, I hate being wrong! Run!"

As the nightmare creature stumbled towards them at a frightening pace, the group ran into the shack, where Sakaki desperately tried to hold the door shut. The monster slammed into the door repeatedly, even forming dents in the thick, steel door.

"It's strong! I can't hold it much longer," she yelled.

The others tried to look for something to barricade the door, but all they could find was useless junk that wouldn't help one bit. Sakaki did her best, but slowly, she was pushed back further and further. There was now a small opening, which was quickly growing bigger. Frustrated, Kagura stuffed her Colt Python through the opening. She could now see the monster up close; a small, lifeless eye and a grin with several teeth missing were the only things not covered with a layer of torn off faces. Truly a grotesque creature. She fired several bullets into its body, which seemed somewhat succesful. The mutant yelped and trashed, and then finally decided to back off. Kagura retracted her gun and Sakaki closed the door, relieved that it all ended well.

"Damn," Tomo sighed. "I was hoping I would never see her again. She scares the hell outta me!"

"That was that thing that attacked you back in that cabin, wasn't it?" Sakaki said.

"Yeah. And that thing we saw from the balcony," she answered. "I just didn't think it would be so fast. Last time, it was just stumbling forward."

"So, it's a woman?" Chiyo asked.

"Uhuh, didn't you hear the sounds it made? It was even wearing a gown."

"Now that you mention it," Kagura noted, "I think I still have that picture you found somewhere." Kagura searched her pockets until she found it. "Ah, here it is... It's a bit messed up cause it got wet, but I can still somewhat read it."

"Creepy," Osaka said, looking over Kagura's shoulder. "So did she she find her mum or not? Says here she found 'er, but killed her."

"No, it says that wasn't her real mom," Tomo corrected. "She's still looking for her, apparently."

"So, you think her mother is still here then?" said Kagura.

"Well, if she is, she's probably dead," Chiyo reasoned.

"Come on, we're running out of time. Let's get going," said Sakaki. The group nodded.

The fountain plaza was still in the same state. Pieces of dead dogs littered all over the place. Not like anyone expected them to disappear, but it was still a disturbing sight. Here, they were ready to put their plan into action. Kagura and Chiyo stayed put on the plaza, while the others moved on to the waterway. Here, they split up again, Sakaki and Osaka crossing the waterway and taking the elevator to the waterfall plaza at the end of the path, and Tomo staying at the rotation device with the crank still in place. When Osaka and Sakaki arrived, they put the battery into place, giving the once unusable elevator power, and they sended it up. Then, Sakaki called out to Tomo to close the watergate. Tomo rotated the crank with all her might, and while creaking and screeching, the rusty watergate slowly closed. When all was done, the waterway slowly filled up with water again, once again turning into a large pool. The noise of the waterfall disappeared.

"Okay, it worked!" Sakaki shouted to her. "Go back and take the elevator down!"

"Aye aye, I'm on my way," she yelled back.

Tomo turned on her heel and ran towards the gate leading back to the plaza, when she suddenly stepped on her breaks and came to a forced halt. Breathing heavily, she took a few steps back again.

"No..."

There it was again. The monster in chains stood before her, blocking her now only exit. Tomo stepped back as it stumbled at her in the same fashion she recognised, dangerously swinging her shackles from side to side. Tomo was too afraid to run past it. Last time she tried, her gut got pulverized. This woman was a lot stronger than she looked, and more nimble too. She had to think of something fast, otherwise she would be pushing up daisies soon. Tomo looked back for a second. She was now only about 2 feet away from the pool. It was now or never. Quickly, she unloaded a shotgun shell into its body. The mutant phazed for a moment, and Tomo went for it. She tried to dash past, but many long tentacles erupted from the monster's back at the last moment, lashing out at her as she tried to escape. Tomo stumbled back again, frustrated and terrified that she failed.

"What is this...?"

The monster shrieked at her; that same horrifying sound she heard at the cabin. Intimidated, Tomo treaded backwards even further, until she was at the very edge of the pool.

"Tomo, what's happening?" Sakaki shouted from down below.

"Don't...don't come any closer. Stay away from me...," she stammered.

"Tomo? Tomo?"

The distance between the Wildcat and the mutant was getting smaller, and Tomo had nowhere else to run to. She evaded a hit from the shackles by running to her left, where she had the only space left to move. Without even pausing from the last attack, the monster ran up to her with arms raised up the air, ready to slam down on her head with the wooden shackles. Time seemed to stand still for Tomo. She saw the monster girl with her hands up the air, about to smash her brains in with the heavy contraption on her wrists. This was it; the fatal blow that she was about to recieve in the cabin before the others saved her. This was the monster's second chance. This time, Tomo was on her own; nobody that could save her now. Even if her friends were running to come check on her, they would never make it in time. She had to prove it now; prove that she could take care of herself, that she could save her own hide without help of the others if necessary. Her powerful Riot Gun on her side, she was staring death in the eyes, and she was about to fight it. As in a reflex, Tomo brought her gun up to the height of the creature's face. As the shackles were about to come down on her, Tomo let out a low pitched howl, and fired without hesitation.

Down on the plaza, the group heard the second gunshot taking place, but they couldn't see anything. After that, everything went quiet.

"Tomo? Can you hear me? Answer me!" Sakaki yelled.

But she didn't answer back. Panicking, Sakaki ran to the elevator to go see her.

Tomo stood, her knees trembling and her legs feeling weak. She dropped her shotgun, which was still smoking, on the floor. Blood was running down her face, her mouth was wide open, and her eyes half shut.

"Heh...hehehe..."

Weakly, she brought the back of her hand to her face and wiped off the blood.

"Hehe... HAHAHAHAHA! Alright!" she cheered loudly.

A few feet away from her, the monster layed on the ground motionless, knocked backwards by the point blank shot in the face. Even the tentacles weren't moving anymore. A small stream of dark blood spilled into the pool. Some of the faces on the monster were shredded where the hail had pierced its head. Miraculously, the head was still somewhat intact.

"Tomo has slain the beast!" she cried out victoriously. "That's what you get when you mess around with me!"

From the other side of the pool, Sakaki appeared. "Tomo, are you okay?"

"Hell yeah I am!" she shouted. "Just had a run in with the old lady here! I'm coming over now!"

"Alright. Hurry up, okay?" Sakaki said relieved.

Before Tomo left, she took one last look at the monster that had fallen victim to her. Her true face was now visible, as the skin mask was blow away. But there wasn't much to see. She had no more facial features. Basically, all there was was a skull with some decomposed meat on it. Some teeth were missing, and she only had one eye, which was completely white. There were some hairs left on her head, but not many. Tomo did feel a bit sorry for her, however. Judging by the chains and shackles, she was probably one of the test subjects in the laboratory. They did something terrible to her, and probably to her parents too. But it had to be done. At least she was able to put her out of her misery, and Tomo was somewhat glad about that. Without saying another word, Tomo left the waterway with mixed feelings.

The waterfall was gone, and there was the hole that Osaka was talking about. It looked more like a cave, actually, but it didn't seem to reach very far. There was some light at the end though. Hesitantly, they walked into the cave. A few wooden planks served as a floor, and water was pouring off the muddy walls and ceiling. At the end of this small cave was a ladder leading down. One by one, they descended into the underground. What they found there were more caves. No laboratory, so they were a bit disappointed to say the least. The caves were fortified with wooden beams, there were some pipes running along the ceiling and there was a steel door, but other than that, nearly everything around them consisted of mud and rock. At least there were lights put up, so they didn't have to use their flashlights. But the place was still pretty dark nonetheless.

"I think these are mines," Chiyo said.

"Brrr, it's cold down here," Osaka complained, a big drop of water falling on her head.

"Well, this place looks totally shoddy and unsafe," Kagura said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Tomo agreed. "Let's get moving; I don't want to stay here too long. Let's try this door first."

The first door they found was immediately to their right, but when Tomo opened it, she came across a problem.

"Uh oh, looks like the lights are broken here. I can't see a thing in there."

Tomo peered into the darkness. She saw nothing, but she constantly heard the dripping of water. "Great start already. Who has the flashlights?"

"I do," Sakaki said while taking it out.

"What? I thought we had two of them?"

"I think Yomi was holding the other one. Sorry."

Tomo clicked her tongue and looked into the dark caverns again. "Just one flashlight, huh? Great... Alright, let's go. Who's going in first?"

Sakaki looked at her and quickly handed her the flashlight. Tomo grumbled and snatched it from her hand. "Fine," she huffed.

"Hey, yer the new leader and all," Osaka shrugged.

"I never said I wanted to be the leader!"

"Well, just so ya know, I trust ya!"

"Gee, thanks," Tomo mumbled, shaking her head. Carefully she stepped into the dark tunnel, with the flashlight in her free hand. Immediately when she stepped inside, her foot nearly sinked away in the mud. "Ah fuck! There's mud everywhere!" she yelped.

Everyone stayed very close to eachother as they slowly plodded through the muddy tunnel. Tomo was taking the lead, shining the flashlight around. Every sound they heard made them wary, even though it was nothing but water dripping down. The suffocating feeling of claustrophobia crept up on them; that feeling of seclusion, cramped up in a narrow tunnel in the pitch black darkness with nothing but a small circle of light to guide them. They refrained from making too much noise, in case something was there with them. They came across a T-junction. The path to the left obviously lead to a dead end, so they headed to the left. There was a small set of stairs, made out of several wooden planks, spiralling down slightly. Carefully, they made their way down, trying not to slip on the wet wood. Another steel door was in front of them. Tomo opened it up. What luck! The lights were still working in this area. Some of them were flickering, but they could see well enough. There was a large elevator in front of them, but when Sakaki pressed the operating button, nothing happened, as expected. To their left, there was a panel of some sort, probably the power supply to the lift. A round lid was on it, which looked it could be opened. Kagura approached it and opened the lid, to see that there was something inside. A gold coloured object. Carefully, she stuck her hand inside and fished it out. It was a long, cilindrical shaft, with relief patterns at the bottom, and a thicker segment at the top. This was most likely what provided the energy to the elevator, but it didn't work. It looked incomplete, like something would fit onto it. She decided to take it with her.

"So, what's up?" Tomo asked the group.

"The elevator doesn't work. It's not getting any power," Sakaki said.

"I found this thing in the console over there. I think this is supposed to give the elevator juice, but it's not working," Kagura informed.

"There's 'nother door over there!" Osaka said lastly.

"That's it? Okay, so we should find a way to get the elevator to work. Maybe it brings us to the laboratory. But let's go check that door first."

"See, Tomo-chan, ya really are a good leader," Osaka smiled.

"I try..."

The door Osaka mentioned lead them to another tunnel, also illuminated, which then brought them to a more open area. It was another dead end.

"There's absolutely nothing here," Tomo cussed. "These mines are useless!"

Even after searching thoroughly for small objects, even after using the flashlight, they found nothing. The girls walked back empty handed and headed back to the entrance of the mines. But they had to go through the dark passage again. Tomo busted out her flashlight and they entered it, staying on their toes. The door on the other side suddenly opened, and heavy footsteps were coming for them quickly.

"Shit, we got sniffed out!" Tomo said with a lowered voice.

Kagura readied her magnum to take the monster out. "A Hunter," she said. "Don't worry, I got this one."

Just then, the Hunter appeared from around the corner. It stared into Tomo's flashlight, and its pupils dilated. When it was about to jump out at them, Kagura fired her gun. The bullet struck the Hunter right below the left shoulder and knocked it backwards.

"Damn, that didn't do it!" Kagura cussed, and readied herself for a second shot.

The Hunter jumped up straight again and sneered angrily. It wobbled up to them fast, but got the second bullet in the chest. It fell down on its back, dead.

"Whew... Sorry guys, my aim is a little off."

"That's okay, it's dead anyhow," Tomo said. "Watch it, though. There might be more of them."

They marched through the dark tunnel and finally made it back to the entrance. The only way they could go now was straight ahead. When they crossed the corner, they saw another door in the back, but to get there, they had to cross a small bridge over what appeared to be a rapid underground river. Falling in there would mean certain death, and the bridge definitely didn't look very sturdy. In fact, the wood was apparently rotten because of the extremely humid conditions.

"You think this will hold?" Kagura asked suspiciously.

"I don't know," Chiyo said. "We should probably go one at a time."

Tomo went first, carefully crossing the shabby bridge. The woodwork creaked like hell, but it did seem to be holding.

"Looks fine to me, just makes a bunch of noise."

But then Tomo made the mistake of looking down. The sight of the fast flowing water down below her disoriëntated her, and she nearly lost her balance.

"Whoa!"

"Tomo! Be careful!" Chiyo shouted.

Tomo quickly stumbled to the other side and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Too close! Whatever you do, don't look down."

Kagura was next. She wobbled to the other side, innervated by the loud creaking, but she made it just fine. Next was Osaka. She too had some trouble to keep her cool, but arrived at the other side unscathed.

"Okay, you go next, Chiyo-chan," Sakaki said.

Gulping, Chiyo walked up to the decomposing bridge with shaking knees, obviously frightened.

"Don't worry, you're light. Just keep looking forward and don't stop walking."

"O-okay... Here goes..."

But just when she was about to set food upon the bridge, something big jumped up from out of the water and slammed into it. Chiyo quickly recoiled and stepped backwards, as the bridge was dragged along with the creature. It disappeared into the dark water tunnel, and the pieces of wood went along with the flow. The girls stood there for several seconds, speechless.

"Wh...what was that?" Tomo exclaimed. "That bastard stole our bridge!"

"Was that a frog?" Osaka questioned.

"It was no fish, that's for sure," Kagura said.

But now they had a serious problem. The gap was too large to jump, and Sakaki and Chiyo were still on the other side. Tomo, Osaka and Kagura had no way to return either.

"You guys stay there, we'll go on ahead!" Tomo said to them. "We'll find a way to meet up with you again, even if we have to build a ladder."

"Okay, but be careful," Sakaki called out.

"Here, take this!"

Tomo tossed her flashlight across the river. "For if you have to go through that dark tunnel again."

"What about you?"

"We'll be fine, don't worry about it."

And so, they had to leave Chiyo and Sakaki behind, while Tomo, Kagura and Osaka ventured deeper into the mines. Behind the door, they found another T-junction. The right side was blocked off with a giant spherical rock, and the left side was another dead end.

"Great, just great! Don't tell me we're stuck here," Tomo wailed.

"I don't think so. There has to be something else here, otherwise they wouldn't have made these tunnels," Kagura thought out loud. "Let's take a look around."

Tomo and Kagura checked out the wall at the left side, and what they found was most interesting. Osaka headed the other way, towards the rock.

"Hey, there's a hole here," Tomo said, and placed her eye over it.

Osaka took a look at the giant rock in front of her. It seemed odd; out of place, like it was purposely installed there.

It was dark on the other side of the hole, but Tomo was sure there was something more behind it. No doubt about it; this was a fake wall, but why?

Curiously, Osaka touched the giant rock, but pulled back her hand.

_That's weird... Looks like this thing can be moved._

"Hey, Tomo, be careful!" Kagura warned her as Tomo reached her hand into the hole. She started feeling around if there was some kind of switch or something on the other side.

Gently, Osaka pushed the rock, and to her amazement, it budged. Small rocks stuck in the crevaces came loose and rolled down the path. Small pieces of rubble fell down from the ceiling and a low rumble followed, as the rock slowly leaned forward.

"Uh oh..."

"What was that rumble?" Kagura looked up.

Next thing they knew, they saw Osaka running towards them as fast as she could, with a 80 ton boulder chasing her.

"Look out!"

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Tomo and Kagura shrieked simultaniously. Both of them sprinted towards the door, the only safe place from the rolling rock, and the three dove into the safe space just in time not to be crushed. The giant boulder crashed into the fake wall and broke it down.

"Osaka! What did you do?" Tomo screamed.

"Ah...ah just touched it, that's all! Honest!" Osaka puffed.

"That was a close call," Kagura sighed.

"Now ah know how Indiana Jones felt..."

At least the wall was brought down, and behind it they found another steel door. Behind it they found the strangest room they ever saw. All the walls, the floor and the ceiling were covered with countless, white strings. As Tomo walked in, her nearly got stuck in the substance.

"What is this?"

Tomo kneeled down and touched it. They were sticky, and very tough. She ripped off a bit, and as soon as she held it in her hand, she realised what it was.

"These looks like...spider webs. Oh no, don't tell me..."

Just then, the door was forced shut. When they turned around, there was, just as Tomo suspected, one of those giant tarantulas they saw in the residence. Tomo was immediately struck with fear and hid behind Kagura's back.

"Aaargh! I don't want this! Kill it! KILL IT!"

"Leave this to me!" Kagura said.

"Uhm...guys? Ah think that one is the least of our worries..."

"What?"

Kagura and Tomo looked up to the ceiling to see something very disturbing dangling about. Latched to the ceiling was another tarantula. They thought those other spiders were big, but this was rediculous. This one was at least 3 times as big as the other mutant spiders, and with black fur with yellow stripes. This monstrosity was as big as a large pickup truck. The Black Tiger.

"The mother... My God, it's gigantic!" Kagura gasped.

"Th-th-this is...t-their nest...," Tomo stammered terrified. "Waah, I want out! I want out!" she nearly sobbed, clinging to Kagura's shirt.

Like it couldn't get any worse, two more smaller spiders came crawling from the holes in the walls. They now had the three girls surrounded.

"S-screw this! Shoot me instead! I'd rather be dead right now!" Tomo panicked.

"Will you just shut up and calm down!" Kagura snapped. "Instead of hanging from my shirt, help us kill them!"

"B-but they're so hairy!" she protested.

One of the Web Spinners caressed Tomo's leg with its fur, and Tomo shrieked and leaped a good two feet in the air. She then unloaded her riot gun like a maniac.

"Aaaah! Stay away from me, you fucking freaks! Die, die, die!"

Kagura blew the giant spider in front of her to smithereens with just one magnum bullet. Hemolymph and hairs were flying all over the place. Osaka was having some trouble with her Baby Eagle, as it wasn't nearly powerful enough to kill those things. The tarantula raised its front legs and stormed up to Osaka. Osaka was pushed over, and the spider beared its venomous fangs.

"H-help!"

Kagura was fast enough to prevent the spider from completely overwhelming her, and managed to kill it.

"Thanks..."

Kagura, Tomo and Osaka, the latter two still having shivers going up and down their spines, lined up as the spider "Boss" came crawling down the wall on the other side of the room. The spider let out a crackling hiss and prepared to attack. They were now standing like they were in some RPG and were doing a bossfight; the Black Tiger taking an intimidating pose, and Kagura, Tomo and Osaka standing next to eachother.

"Open fire! Let's kill this bastard!" Kagura commanded.

Magnum bullets, handgun bullets and shotgun hail zoomed through the air and made the spider flinch. While Tomo had to reload, the huge tarantula spit a load of venom towards her. Kagura quickly pushed her out of the way making her drop her shells.

"What the hell?"

Tomo crawled back to her feet and collected her shells and inserted them into her riot gun, when suddenly, the ground shook for a second and there was a loud crash not too far away.

"What now?" Osaka wondered.

"Sounds like part of the mines just collapsed!" Kagura said.

Some moments later, there was a bash at the steel double door opposite to the entrance. The spider webs in front of it held it back, but the door budged anyway. Silently, forgetting about the giant spider in front of them, the girls stared at the door as many more bashes followed. Even the Black Tiger had its attention diverted to the loud noises.

With every bash, more and more of the webs broke. Whatever what was on the other side of that door, it was very strong.

"A Hunter, maybe?" Osaka guessed.

"I don't know," Kagura answered softly.

"It couldn't be her...could it?" Tomo thought aloud.

Then there was another slam, and another, and another, and then it paused for a second, and with the last one, the doors violently flew open. Slowly, something stumbled into the room, step by step.

"What...in the world...is that?" Kagura said in disbelief.

With heavy steps, it walked over the spider web infested floor, barefoot with blackened toenails. A bald human head with lifeless eyes and a full toothed grin, the left cheek torn off. A large bulge going from its neck to its left shoulder, and its whole body covered with nasty, hemispherical ulcers and popped veins. On the surface of its chest was part of its big, throbbing heart; naked and unprotected, like it expanded so much that it partly popped out of its chest. The right arm was swollen and mutated at the wrist, with long, sharp, knife like bone protrusions were the fingers were supposed to be. The left hand was mostly human like, but with the same claws on all fingers except for the thumb and index finger. It was a 8 feet tall, hulking, slightly hunching, randomly twitching humanoid monster.

As the girls watched, the monster walked up to the Black Tiger, who started the attack. It vomited another dose of venom, and it hit, but the monster wasn't even phazed by it. The giant spider staggered and tackled it, but the strange monster impaled its claws into its head. With many twitches, the spider squirmed and hissed in pain and tried to get away. But the monster pulled out and stabbed it again, in the top of its carapace this time. The hemolymph squirted across the room and pooled on the floor, as the spider slowly pulled in its legs and died.

Tomo, Kagura and Osaka stood with their mouths agape, as they could now see the back of the mutant. Aside from the ulcers and veins, the spinal column was actually exposed. The monster had an open back; probably an error in creation, as this and its heart were obvious weak spots. After the clash was over, the monster ignored the cadaver of the spider and turned to the girls. It threw its head back and emitted an ominous low howl.

"Crap, what is this? Another one of those Umbrella freaks?" Tomo whispered.

"Probably, but I think we can take this thing down," Kagura whispered back. "We're going to scatter to throw it off guard, and aim at its heart or its spine. But watch out for those claws. Wait for it!"

"Ehhh... It's comin' right for us...," Osaka said worrisome.

"Not yet. Wait for it to come closer. Tomo, you circle it from the left, and you from the right, Osaka."

"What about you?" Tomo asked.

"I'll attack the heart from the front."

As the twitching giant slowly marched forward, Kagura readied her gun and tried her best to aim for the heart. When the monster was just 10 feet away, Kagura yelled, "Now!"

Tomo and Osaka circled it and Kagura opened fire on the heart. The monster was taken aback by the first magnum bullet and growled angrily, but soon had to endure heavy fire in the back. Bullets and hail chipped off pieces of the spinal chord, and the heart was bleeding heavily. With blood seeping out if its body, the humanoid mutant turned to Osaka and charged at her. With a quick swipe, it left a scratch on her left arm, but nothing too serious. Good thing she managed to dodge the fatal blow. After this attempted attack, it fell on its knee exhausted. Tomo and Osaka teamed up with Kagura again and took this time to reload again.

"Look, I think we've almost got it already!" Tomo panted.

With a loud growl, the monster got up again and clumsily walked up to the girls; its left hand holding the wounded heart.

"Okay, let's finish this!" Kagura said.

But the monster dashed again, ready for another swipe. Kagura fired a bullet, which landed in the creature's head. It flinched, growled, and started running again.

"Scatter!" Tomo yelled.

The team ran across the room like startled mice and the claws of the monster got stuck in the muddy wall.

"Now's our chance!"

Tomo sprinted up to the monster to deliver a devastating blow to the spine, but accidentally slipped over a puddle of spider blood. Tomo landed quite hard and roller over the floor, very close to the creature's feet.

"Ouch! My frikkin' arm!" she cried out.

"Tomo, no! Look out!" Kagura shouted.

"Tomo-chan!" yelled Osaka.

The monster had freed its claw from the wall and was now towering over her. Wheezing heavily, it raised its deadly clawed hand, about to slash away at Tomo, who was still on the ground. But suddenly it froze. A gush of blood splurted out of the heart and it stopped beating. Like it just died on the spot, the giant toppled over forwards. Tomo had to use her good arm to roll out of the way before she would be crushed by its weight. It hit the ground with a loud thump, and it didn't move a muscle anymore.

"We did it," Tomo cheered while laying on her back.

"Tomo, are you okay?" Kagura asked as she ran up to her.

"I fell on my arm, but I don't think it's broken."

"That's good..."

"What a creep! Ya suppose that thing there came from the labs?" Osaka wondered.

"Probably. Doesn't look like it was created by accident," said Kagura.

"But it does look like it used to be a person," Tomo joined in. "I bet it's another one of those Umbrella experiments."

"Ya don't think there's more of 'em, do ya?"

"...Osaka, I'm pretty sure there's more of them, to be honest."

Both Osaka and Kagura looked at Tomo weirdly. That wasn't exactly the answer they expected. More something like "I hope not" or in a similar style.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, look at it! It has an open back and the heart is exposed. Plus, did you see how it moved? Pretty clumsy if you ask me. With so many flaws, this one's obviously a failed experiment. Which means that it's probably a prototype for a much stronger version."

"Tomo... I think you've been playing too many videogames...," Kagura responded skeptically. "First your Wesker theory, and now this."

"Well," Tomo shrugged. "I hope I'm wrong this time."

The group finally moved on to the next corridor. Somewhere in the middle of it, there was a big hole in the ceiling, and piles of debris on the ground. This was probably where that thing entered through. It appeared to lead to a tunnel above them, but it was quite dark up there. Still, it was a potential way out, so they had to try it. But first, they walked on to the next door at the end of the path. Here, they found another short tunnel. After crossing a few corners, they came across a room. Burning torches hung from the rocky wall, and in the back were two statues, both of a woman. In between those statues was a small hatch, which looked like it could be forced open. After some tugging, Kagura managed to remove the lid and found an object. It was a silver cilinder; the missing part of the shaft needed to power the lift. Why they left it here was beyond her, but she placed the cilinder in its designated spot and twisted it until it fell in place. It was time to go back now, so they went back to the hole in the ceiling.

"So, up there? I guess it's worth a shot," Kagura mused.

"But how're we gunna get up there?"

"Simple, one of us has to give the others a boost, and then jump really high," said Tomo.

"I'll do it," Kagura said, and got in a crouching position and cupped her hands together.

This way, she managed to get Tomo and Osaka up in the tunnel, and now she just had to jump and they had to pull her up.

"Okay, on three! One, two, three!"

Kagura made a very impressive jump considering her condition, and Tomo and Osaka managed to grab her by the arms and drag her up.

"That's our athlete," said Tomo. "Careful though, the ceiling is low up here. Guess we're crawling our way through."

The three crawled on hands an knees through the dark and narrow tunnel; a voyage that seemed to be endless. But finally there was light at the end of the tunnel, literally. The light seemed to be coming from above, and there was a ladder. After climbing the ladder, they ended up just outside the entrance of the mines, out of a manhole on the plaza.

"What luck! We're just outside the mines!" Tomo grinned optimistically.

"Fresh air!" Osaka exclaimed.

"I don't think that fat monster got in through here though...," said Kagura.

"Meh, probably came from the other direction," Tomo shrugged, not caring one bit. "Let's go see Sakaki and Chiyo. Bet they'd be jealous if we told them all the things they missed."

They climbed back down into the underground. Sakaki and Chiyo were waiting for them, but they didn't expect them to come back from that direction, so they startled them a little.

"Oh, you're back," Sakaki said timidly. "Where did you come from?"

"That's a long story, but to keep it short, we found an overhead tunnel that brought us back outside," Tomo explained. "Anyway, you won't believe the stuff that happened to us!"

"Oh...? But before that...," Sakaki said carefully. "I think you might want to take a look at something."

"Huh?"

"It's...at the river."

Much to their surprise, there was the carcass of a gigantic toad by the rapid river, with a green-brownish colour, and a long, sticky tongue sticking out of its mouth. It looked just like a regular toad, with warts all over its body and flippers between the toes, but it didn't seem to have any eyes, and there were small claws on the toes at well.

"This thing attacked us not long after you left. It just jumped out of the water," Sakaki informed.

"It tried to eat me whole," Chiyo added.

"Sure is a big ol' frog," Osaka mused. "So you're the one that broke the bridge?"

"It's a toad," Sakaki corrected.

"Speaking of which, we've had some pretty nasty encounters too!" Tomo boomed.

They did the explanation about the rolling rock trap, the Black Tiger spider, and the strange humanoid monster.

"A humanoid monster from the laboratories?" Chiyo repeated.

"Yes! It was crazy! It had these huge claws on its hands, and it had all these bumps on its skin!" Tomo said.

"Ya shoulda seen it! It was twitchin' like mad too!" Osaka joined in.

"And it killed that huge spider with ease," said Kagura. "But anyway, it's dead now. I found the other part of the shaft, so we should be able to use the elevator."

So they moved on, through the dark tunnel again, careful not to trip over the dead Hunter, and reached the large elevator. Kagura placed the shaft back in the hatch and flipped the four switches on the console. With a slight roar, the elevator got its power back and was ready to use.

"Okay, all aboard! We're departing now! Our next stop : Hell!" Tomo announced jokingly.

"That's not funny, Tomo," Kagura snarled.

"...sorry..., geez..."

The elevator moved down even deeper underground, towards the unknown. Although Tomo was joking, down there they would soon find something so disturbing it would closely resemble Hell after all.

* * *

Wata : One month isn't bad, right? Especially since I once took 6 to make a new chapter. With this, Biological Nightmare will enter its last few chapters, so look forward to the next one, and the nearing conclusion of the story. (Oh, and Yomi's still missing.) SUSPENSE!

Just for the information :

Giant spider : Web Spinner

Really giant spider : Black Tiger

Giant toad : Lurker

Humanoid, clawed monster : well... I'll let you guys guess...


	24. Lisa Trevor

_Warning! : This is not a hoax! Chapter 24 is really already done!_

_And it's a pretty big one too! 8D_

_Can't complain that I'm not updating! Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 24 : Lisa Trevor

With a steady buzzing, the heavy duty elevator descended into the deeper parts of the underground mines. The group of five ended up in a relatively large area, with wooden boxes and steel barrels stacked up everywhere, and the sound of a flowing river nearby. They stepped onto the rocky ground and looked around their new environment.

"I wonder how deep underground we are now...," Kagura thought out loud.

There was a short, wooden pier to the right of the elevator, which lead to a ladder going down to a path. Unfortunately, the ladder was broken, so going down there was impossible. The only way left for them was a single door. They found themselves in yet another muddy cave. After taking some turns and going up a small set of stairs, the path split up. However, after further investigation, the paths came back together further on either way.

"Well, this is pointless," Tomo commented. "Let's try that door over there."

Skipping the steel door for now, they entered through the one at the end of the tunnel. This was apparently a mining storage room, with sight on the river down below. More boxes and barrels were kept here, and there was a cable transporter over the river, which, not that it surprised them, didn't work.

"This must be the same river as all the other times. Wonder where it leads to," said Chiyo.

"If it's the same one, there's probably some more of those giant toads in it too," Sakaki noted. "I think we'd better get out of here," to which Chiyo nodded.

The group was in the midst of leaving this place, when a splash occured, following by a heavy smack. They turned around, and yes, there was another Lurker. It just layed on its belly, barely showing any interest in the girls. It let out a low croak and shuffled around a bit.

"Hey, this things seems kind of lame," Tomo chuckled. "Not very threatening at all!"

The long tongue lashed out of the beast's mouth and swiftly snatched away the handheld camera Tomo had hanging from her belt.

"Eh?"

Tomo blinked a few times before she registered what just happened.

"H-hey! Give that back, wart face!"

"My camera!" Chiyo shouted dismayed.

The toad sat there, the strap from the camera hanging out of its mouth, and croaked again.

"Kill it! We need that camera back!" Kagura said, and aimed her Magnum at the mutant.

"Careful! If we startle it, it might run away," Sakaki warned them.

"Then we have to kill it in one shot," said Tomo.

The toad then threw its head back before anyone could fire, and the camera disappeared into its stomach. The group sweat dropped.

"I...it swallowed it!" Tomo exclaimed.

"Guess we'll hafta dissect it then...," Osaka said dryly.

"You stupid frog! Spit it out!" the Wildcat yelled angrily.

But the Lurker, startled by Tomo's yelling, hightailed it and jumped back into the river, leaving Tomo behind baffled and mouth agape. Kagura facepalmed and grunted.

"Good going, Tomo."

Tomo ran up to the riverside and peered over the railing, but the toad was gone already. "Come back here, you filthy thief!" she shouted.

"There goes our evidence...," Kagura sighed.

"And my camera," Chiyo added. "And I just bought it, too..."

"God dammit!" Tomo cursed, and pounded her fist on the railing, hurting her hand in the process.

"Oh well, our bodies will be more than enough proof anyway," Kagura noted, getting an awkward stare from Osaka afterwards.

"Our wounds, I mean!" she huffed.

"Oh...right."

"Man, I'm sorry about your camera, Chiyo-chan," Tomo said, while rubbing her hand.

"No, it's okay. I can always get a new one," she smiled.

"Because your parents are rich, I know. Geez, you don't have to rub it in, you know," Tomo frowned.

"I thought you were the one apologising..."

"Oh, yeah, I was! Shit, Yomi's not going to be happy about this."

"Speaking of which, shouldn't we get a move on and try to find her instead of bothering ourselves with trivial stuff?" Kagura pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right. Screw the camera! Let's get going!" Tomo announced.

So they left the storage room and headed for the other door they skipped. Upon opening it, a horrid, pungent stench from inside the room became apparent immediately. Tomo took a step back and covered her nose with her hand frantically, and she wasn't even in the room yet.

"Jesus, this place stinks!" she gagged.

Kagura walked up to the doorframe and waved her hand in front of her nose. "Urgh, there has to be another dead body in here somewhere."

"Smells more like there's a hundred of 'em!" Tomo blurted, taken aback.

Kagura saw many flickering lights behind a steel fence, which they could walk around to enter the room. Kagura marched in, her nose pinched shut tightly. The others followed in the same fashion.

They found the strangest and most disturbing place yet. It was a room with a tiled floor, tiled walls and an old fireplace; completely out of place with the rest of the underground mines. A wooden picknick table, a cupboard and chairs were part of the furniture, but the chairs were, for some reason, stacked on top of eachother, creating quite a high tower. But it got even stranger. On the floor were burning candles, obviously lit not too long ago, positioned into a circle like it was part of some occult ritual. The cupboard was filled with nothing but creepy dolls. Dolls were everywhere; on top of the fireplace, on the table and on the floor. The ones on the floor and table were primitive, naked wooden dolls modelled after a child, with no hands and feet, and even bloodstains on them. Another disturbing object on the table, was a bloodied slab of flesh, possibly from a human. Several chains hung down from the ceiling, and the ceiling was infested with spiderwebs. In all, the room exhaled an uncomfortable and chilling atmosphere, with all the bizarre objects and placements, and the moody, dim candlelight. It was certain; somebody or something lived here.

"Seriously, what the hell is this place?" Tomo said, with her fingers pinching her nose shut.

"Looks like some kind of living room, but...," Sakaki said softly.

"I don't like this place, it gives me the creeps," Chiyo shivered. "Can we please get out of here?"

"Why are the chairs stacked up like that?" Osaka wondered.

"I have a theory," Tomo announced. "Maybe a survivor lives here, and he became a little mad with all the monsters around, so he started to do all this crazy stuff, or not..."

"But then where did he get all those dolls?" Chiyo wailed.

No matter where Chiyo looked, there were always a bunch of those dolls looking at her, constantly staring into her soul with big, stagnant eyes. She never liked dolls, because of how scary and disturbing she found them. The bloodied, wooden doll on the floor was actually in the middle of the circle of candles, making it look like a sacrificial lamb for a ritual. Shivering, Chiyo grabbed hold of Sakaki's shirt and creeped up closer to her.

"I don't like this...," she gibbered. "I wanna get out of here."

"Too bad," Osaka commented. "If ya got rid of the dolls, the chains an' the smell, this would be a pretty comfy room."

"Where is that smell coming from?" Tomo wondered. She brought her face a bit closer to the flesh on the table, but that wasn't it. It looked relatively fresh anyway.

"I think I found it. It's not pretty, but you may wanna come take a look at this...," Kagura said from the other side of the room.

Kagura was looking at a wall which was initially concealed with dirty white drapes. She made a rather horrific discovery, to say the least.

"Oh my...," Tomo gasped. "Please tell me these are just masks..."

On the stone wall, dozens of empty gazes stared back at them. Some still bloody, some decomposing, a plethora of ripped off human faces decorated the wall, attached with rusty nails like posters. A gruesome, demented collection, torn from the skull and hung on the wall as trophies. Men and women, their visages, once proudly adorning their bodies, now a series of wailing, haunting dead skin masks. Old streams of blood were still visible on the rock, and the rotting skin emitted a miasma of putrescent organic gasses. A horrible sight to behold.

Kagura brought her face a little closer, and pulled back immediately from the stench.

"No, they're real alright."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Chiyo gulped.

"Who could have done this?" Sakaki mumbled disgusted.

"I think I have an idea who could've," Tomo responded. "It was that woman in chains. She was wearing human faces too, so there's no doubt about it."

Tomo turned around and looked around the room again.

"This is her hideout!"

"No wonder this room is so messed up. Looks like she couldn't afford wallpaper either," Kagura gagged as she turned away from the mess.

"W-we should get outta here b'fore she comes back," said Osaka.

"She won't come back. I killed her," Tomo shrugged.

"Ya sure?" Osaka frowned.

"Well, yeah! I shot her right in the face, and she looked pretty dead after that."

"We should leave here either way, before we pass out from the smell," said Kagura. "Besides, this place gives me the willies."

They discovered a narrow passageway leading out of the room after going down a small set of stairs. A few old lamps illuminated the tunnel, and at the end they could see another room. About halfway into the tunnel, Tomo stopped and halted the others.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?"

"Huh? Hear what?" Kagura questioned.

"Hush! Listen..."

"..."

"..."

"...ay away..."

"What was that?" Sakaki whispered.

Tomo placed her ear against the wall and listened closely. She could hear footsteps and a voice on the other side.

"...stay away from me, you freak...," was what she faintly heard.

Tomo's eyes went wide. She recognised that voice anywhere.

"It...it's Yomi!"

"What?" the others said in unison.

"Yomi! Are you there?" she shouted, and tapped against the wall with her hand.

"Tomo?"

"Yes, it's me! What's going on? Where are you!"

"...don't know...!"

Tomo rested her ear against the wall again, but everything sounded muffled and very unclear. There was a thick wall between them. But she heard her say something else, although barely.

"...it's coming..."

"It's...coming...?" Tomo repeated. "What's coming? What's happening?" she shouted.

"...the monster...chasing me...can't stay here... Help me!"

"What?" Tomo yelled puzzled. "I don't understand you! Yomi? Are you still there? Yomi!"

But she didn't answer anymore. Tomo turned to her friends concerned.

"Well, what did she say?" asked Chiyo.

"I don't know... She said something about a monster, and called for help."

"She's under attack? We have to help her!" said Kagura.

"Yeah... Shit! Come on, let's go!" Tomo cussed.

"But wait a minute, Yomi's in the tunnels right next to us, right?" Sakaki reasoned. "There's no use looking for her if we don't know where the entrance is to those tunnels."

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to know that anyway? I don't know anything here," said Tomo.

"I found this map while you were away. It shows the whole underground network. Let's go into the next room and take a look at it."

"You're only telling us now? Okay, let's go!"

The next room was actually a bedroom, and looked a lot more normal than the previous one. It was still weird to see a dormatory, furnished for a girl at that, so deep underground. There was a bed that looked like it wasn't used too long ago, a cupboard full of pictures, a wooden make up desk, book racks against the wall with some books on them, a painting and some more furniture and trinkets typical for a bedroom. In the back, there was a steel ladder leading up. It was actually quite a pretty room. On the make up desk, between some lit candles, was a jewelry box, much like the ones found in the mansion. Tomo picked it up and opened it. Inside, resting on a red cushion, was the item they had been looking for; a stone, octagonal ring. Content, Tomo took it out, but there was something else inside. A photograph of a man, a woman and a little girl; presumably parents with their daughter.

"Could this be...," Tomo wondered, mumbling.

After looking at the family photo for a while, she turned it around and noticed handwriting. Just like the picture she found in the cabin, it was quite sloppy, but she could make it out.

_Nov. 10, 1967_

–_Progenitor Virus administered_

_Jessica_

_Administered virus: Type–A - Plasmolyzing of tissue during cell activation_

_Virus fusion: Negative_

_Action: Disposed_

–_Progenitor Virus administered_

_Lisa_

_Administered virus: Type–B - Plasmolyzing of tissue during cell activation_

_Virus fusion: Positive but delayed fusion._

_Body modification: Observed constant results._

_Status: Continue protective observation._

_George_

_action: Terminated (Nov. 30, 1967)_

Tomo scratched her head at this first bit. Especially after that last name.

"George? George Trevor?" she mumbled inarticulately.

"Huh, what did you say, Tomo?" Kagura asked.

"That was the guy, right? The architect of the mansion. George Trevor."

"Oh, yeah. That Crimson Head we fought in the crypts. So?"

Kagura peeked over Tomo's shoulder and read the writings.

"Jessica and Lisa? They were mentioned in George's diaries. His wife and daughter... What does this mean?" she pondered.

By now, everyone had gathered around the photo and were trying to read the text.

"Jessica was disposed of, George was terminated and Lisa was held under observation," Tomo explained, "after being tested with the...Progenitor virus..."

"Oh my God, read the rest!" Chiyo said and pointed at the journal underneath.

"Huh?"

_Nov. 14, 1967_

_I feel dizzy after that shot they gave me. I don't see Mom. Where did they take her?_

_She promised that we would escape together. Did she escape alone and leave me behind?_

_Nov. 15, 1967_

_I found Mom. We ate together. I was very happy._

_But she was a fake. Not my real Mom. Same face but different inside._

_Have to find Mom. Have to give face back to mother._

_I got Mom's face back. Nobody can have my Mom except me. I attach her face to me so she doesn't go away. Because Mom sad when I meet her without her face._

"What...is this?" Tomo gulped tensely. "I got Mom's face back, I attach her face to me so she doesn't go away? Then that monster..., that woman in chains is..."

"Lisa Trevor, the daughter of George Trevor..."

"I get it now... Lisa wanted to see her mother, but her mother was already dead. So other people impersonated her mom and dad to keep her calm, but she noticed that they weren't really them," Tomo muttered.

"So she tore their faces off and wore them on herself to give back to her real parents when she found them," Kagura continued. "That's how she got the habbit of ripping off her victims faces, and those she couldn't wear on herself, she nailed to the wall of her room as keepsakes."

"That's horrible... But, why would she do that?" Chiyo questioned. "Why would she take their faces if she believed that her real mother was still alive?"

"When she was administered the virus, she most likely lost all sense of reasoning," Sakaki guessed. "But I don't understand why..."

"Why? Isn't it obvious," Tomo yelled. "Those people from Umbrella are monsters! All they care about is their stupid research and viruses, and they don't give a shit how many people die from them! They're going to pay for this!"

As much as everyone agreed with her, they implored Tomo to calm down.

"Hey, we're going to get these people, alright? If we bring this story out, we can make those responsible pay. But you have to keep your cool if we want to make it that far," Kagura lectured.

"Yeah, you're right," Tomo sighed. "I'm taking this picture with me..."

"Wait, hang on a sec'," Osaka interrupted her. "Whut does this last bit mean?"

There was one last passage of Lisa's journal below, written even more sloppy than the rest.

_Nov. 17, 19 7 _

_from inside box, scent of mommy. maybe true mother there. stone box hard. It hurt. steel rope in the way._

_can't see mother becuz 4 stones._

"A stone box? A tombstone?" Tomo mused.

"A steel rope and four stones? I don't get it...," Chiyo frowned.

"Yeah, Ah've been wonderin' about that. If that Lisa girl's here, an' she found her mom, her grave hasta be here somewhere too!"

"Yeah, and?" Tomo said.

"Well, maybe we could find it an' somehow open it..."

"A-are you mad? Why would we wanna do that?" Kagura exclaimed.

"Maybe it holds some more clues," she shrugged.

"Hmm, you may be right, but for now...," Tomo said, putting the picture away. "We should go find Yomi, quickly!"

Sakaki spreaded the map of the underground mines open on the desk, and everyone gathered around her. What they saw was an ant farm like system of tunnels and passageways.

"Those tunnels are so complex...," Sakaki mumbled. "From where we are, we should be close to the exit. If we take this ladder here, it should lead us right out of here, probably somewhere in the courtyard. But those other ones, the ones where Yomi is most likely in, go way further than these, and they're more complicated too."

"So, where do they start?" Kagura inquired.

"I'm not too sure. Judging from this map, there's only one entrance, but it's small and goes way back to the opposite side. That's quite a distance from where we'll end up. Also, those tunnels don't seem to go anywhere. It's a big maze, and once you're trapped in it, you'll most likely end up going in circles."

"You gotta be kidding me," said Tomo. "You mean Yomi's lost in them?"

"I don't know... But, probably. I don't understand how she got there though."

"Must be another kind of trap," Chiyo mused. "You don't think the entrance is somewhere out in the forest, do you, Sakaki-san?"

Sakaki studied the map and thought deeply, trying to oriëntate and picture the layout of the environment, and combining it with with that of the tunnels on the map.

"No...," she answered carefully after a while. "I think it's actually somewhere underneath the mansion."

"That's it!" Tomo boomed. "The gate under the staircase in the main hall! We can go down there now!"

Tomo proudly showed them the stone ring she found in the jewelry box. "This is what we came here for, right?"

"Oh, you found it! That's great!" Chiyo cheered. She took the stone ring from her and placed it around the metal chrest. Now, it was identical to the one they found in the crypt. They only had to go and pick up the other one, and they were on their way. Sakaki folded up the map and put it away. As they climbed up the ladder out of the dormatory one by one, Tomo looked at the pictures on the cupboard. Most of them were of a middle aged woman with long, brown hair. Jessica, the same woman as in the picture. But there were also some of a cheerful, around 10 year old girl with blonde hair and a beautiful smile on her face.

"Lisa... I'll get them for what they did to you..."

After walking through some more tunnels and ascending a long ladder, they had to push up a plate of wood covering the exit. They ended up in the back of the old cabin in the middle of the forest, where Tomo was knocked unconscious by Lisa.

"I see, so the other entrance to the mines was hidden here. This was another one of Lisa's hideouts, connected to her rooms underground," said Tomo.

"She really claimed her territory here, that gal...," Osaka wheezed.

"Yeah, pretty impressive. But let's hurry now!"

The five girls raced past the still burning furnace, out of the cabin and through the dead, gloomy forest. They traversed the graveyard, where a murder of crows glared over them dangerously, and climbed up the muddy hill, until they made it back to the shack. Here, they quickly restocked on some ammo they left there, and headed back to the mansion. Outside the shack, Sakaki took the octagonal stone and metal chrest out of the indentation, once again locking the door to the courtyard.

"I just hope this works..."

After crossing the so familiar hallways safely, one last time, they arrived in the imposant main hall. The smell of blood and death lingered here, and dog corpses were strewn across the floor. Underneath the staircase was the large, double gate, and just like Tomo remembered, two octagonal indentations were on it; the right size too. But there was something else she recalled here too.

"Down there... I think I heard Lisa down there when we first got here."

"Guys, I gotta bad feelin' about what's down there...," Osaka blurted.

"Hey, we made it through those mines, we'll make it through this," Kagura reassured her.

"That's not what ah meant," she replied with a worried face. "Ah dunno, but...somethin' tells me that Lisa girl ain't dead..."

"Huh?" Tomo said, raising an eyebrow. "Whaddaya mean? I told you I shot her in the face, and she didn't move after that!"

"Ah know, but..." Osaka raised her head to the ceiling and scratched the back of her head. "It's just intuition, but... Ah, nevermind. I'm just blabbin'..."

"Seriously, Osaka. You're just paranoid. I don't blame you, we've been here for too long," said Tomo.

"Yeah, ah guess..."

"Okay, Sakaki, will you do the honours?"

Sakaki nodded slightly and took a chrest in each hand, inserted them into the gate simultaniously and pressed gently. The indentations accepted the chrests and locked them into place permanently, and after a click, the gates unlocked.

"No turning back now. Let's go," she said.

Behind the gates were stairs leading down, encased in rough brown rock. Small puddles formed in the uneven floor, and water seeped off the stone walls. There were some candles in crevaces in the walls, giving off a weak light, but it was enough to see where they were going. Once they carefully marched down the stairs, the tunnel continued to the right. Chains were dangling from the ceiling here as well, and some steel shackles lay on the floor.

"What is this place? Looks like some kind of dungeon," Chiyo announced while looking around.

"Of course, a dungeon. I'm not surprised," Tomo grunted.

While the group moved along, Kagura tagged behind not too far. She brought her hand to her forehead and wiped the sweat away.

A little further, there were no walls or floor anymore. The tunnel continued just like the underground mines, and it became darker as they went further in. After walking for two more minutes, doing their best not to slip and fall, they came across a ladder going down. It didn't go very far, but there was more light down there, and the floor once again consisted of the brown rock.

"Alright, let's go!" Tomo boomed.

One by one, they descended into a bizarre room that resembled an island. To the left and to the right, there was no floor, but a pit of darkness, going down so deep they couldn't see the bottom at all. In the center of this room was a large, stone box; a sarcophagus of some sort, with all four corners of the lid connected with chains hanging from the wall. These chains were then connected to four large rocks, one in each corner of the room. On the other side of the room was an open gate with two angel statues beside it, and another tunnel behind it. The girls approached the stone box. Tomo ran her hand across the lid, leaving a layer of dust on her fingers.

"Could this be Jessica's grave?" she pondered.

"Gotta be," Osaka answered. "A stone box, steel ropes and 4 stones."

Sakaki gave pushing the lid a try, but it wouldn't budge. The chains seemed to be jamming the lid to the rest of the box, so there was no moving it.

"No use, I can't open it," she panted.

"There has to be a way to get rid of those chains, but-"

"Hey, I hear something!" Chiyo hushed Tomo.

From the tunnel, fast footsteps were heard, accompanied by heavy wheezing and panting.

"Could it be..."

The splasing of the mud came closer and closer, and for a moment, it sounded like whoever it was stumbled and quickly got to her feet again. After a few seconds, from around the corner, a girl appeared.

"Yomi!" Tomo shouted relieved.

Yomi, her clothes wet and covered with mud and blood, leaned against the frame of the gate exhausted and out of breath. When she saw her friends, a small but hopeful smile appeared on her face.

"Y-you guys... Took you long enough..." she chuckled slightly.

"Yomi-san, you're okay!" Chiyo sparkled. "We were so worried! What happened?"

"I'll explain later, but first..." Yomi's expression turned serious again and she ran up to them. "That thing... It's been stalking me for over half an hour now," she wheezed.

"Thing? What thing?" Tomo asked puzzled.

"You'll see. It's coming!"

They then heard more sounds coming from the tunnel. Familiar sounds.

"That can't be...," Tomo murmured.

Not much later, it appeared before them. Tomo's eyes widened in shock.

"I killed you..."

"Lisa Trevor..."

The hunched figure of Lisa stood in front of them, her true face showing, but her wounds apparently completely healed. She let out a furious, high pitched shriek, and with just one swing of her bloodied shackles, smashed the left angel statue to bits, showcasing her horrifying, brutal strength.

"No matter what I tried or how fast I ran, it always caught up with me. Everywhere I went, that sound of dragging chains was following me in the dark. It was a nightmare... I almost couldn't take it anymore..."

"I...I don't believe it. Lisa, I killed you! I put you out of your misery after so many years," Tomo lamented, with tears forming in her eyes. "Why can't you rest in peace...?"

"What?" Yomi exclaimed. "You know this monster?"

"Don't call her a monster!" Tomo snapped. "You don't know what she's been through..."

"I...I'm sorry," Yomi said taken aback.

"She's comin' this way!" Osaka warned.

Lisa groaned and walked forward, her shackles swaying back and forth and her chains always dragging behind her. The group slowly backed off, and Sakaki and Kagura raised their weapons.

"Damn! Save your sentiment for later, Tomo, we have to take care of her!" Kagura shouted, breathing unnaturally heavy.

Sakaki unloaded her shotgun once, but the hail just seemed to bounce off of her. Some blood splattered on the floor, but Lisa barely flinched. The squirming tentacles erupted from her body and she shrieked angrily, swinging her arms around wildly. At that moment, Kagura's Magnum suddenly fell to the floor and slided in front of Sakaki's feet.

Surprised at her sudden behaviour, Sakaki turned her head at her, thinking she was just being clumsy.

"Kagura, what are you-"

Kagura's stretched arm was shaking like a seismic tremor and her hand had lost grip of her weapon. Sweat seeped off her paled face, and her eyes, half open, stared into nothingness soullessly. Her heart throbbed once, intensely, and her body shocked. Her vision turned fuzzy and the whole room started spinning. Another throb, and all her energy was quickly sapped out of her. All her senses turned numb as she headed for the floor backwards. Sakaki quickly lowered her shotgun and caught Kagura, who was now as weak as a rag doll, in her arms before she could hit the ground.

"Kagura!" she yelped. "Kagura, get a hold of yourself!"

Everyone turned at Sakaki's yelling startled. "Kagura! What happened?" Tomo exclaimed.

"I...I can't...focus," she uttered, breathing irratically.

"She just suddenly fell. We're running out of time!" Sakaki panicked. "We have to get her out of here!"

Lisa leaped up in the air and landed on top of the sarcophagus, her shackles clinging loudly.

"Now's your chance!" Yomi yelled. "Sakaki, take Kagura and get out of here!"

Sakaki nodded quickly, placed Kagura's arm around her neck and lifted her up. She ran around the sarcophagus and headed for the tunnel. As Lisa screamed again, Osaka, Chiyo and Yomi followed her. "Come on, Tomo!" said Yomi.

Tomo wanted to escape too, but after she picked up Kagura's Magnum from the floor, Lisa jumped off the stone box and blocked her path. As she closed up on her, Tomo stepped backwards.

"Dammit!"

Without thinking, Tomo fired Kagura's magnum with just one hand. The force of the recoil pushed her with her back against the large rock in the corner, making it move slightly. When the stone moved, the chain connected to it rocked back and forth as well. Lisa was knocked back too, and bumped into the stone on the opposite side. As she scrambled back to her feet, the stone leaned backwards over the edge and tumbled down into the dark pit. The chain, suspended to the ceiling by a steel ring , tightened and forcefully ripped one of the locks out of the lid of the sarcophagus. The loosened chain then joined the stone in the fall.

Upon seeing this, Osaka's gears started turning, thinking back to the last passage of Lisa's journal.

_from inside box, scent of mommy. maybe true mother there. stone box hard. It hurt. steel rope in the way._

_can't see mother becuz 4 stones._

Then, she got it!

"Tomo-chan!" she called out from the other side of the room. "The stones an' chains are in the way! Ya have ta push all the stones into the pit to open the box!"

Tomo looked at Lisa closing in on her again, and swiftly turned around without questioning what Osaka said, and bashed into the rock until it fell down. With a clang, the second lock flew out.

"How is this going to help us?" Yomi asked skeptically.

"Dun' worry! It'll work! Just help her push those stones away!"

Yomi grumbled and just ran up to the stone in the right corner and pushed it with all she still had, while Osaka did the same with the one to the left.

"Huff, this thing's heavy...! Can't let up now..."

Meanwhile, Tomo was cornered. Behind her, a bottomless pit, and in front of her, the terribly strong Lisa, hunting her down. Tomo saw the third lock getting torn out, and Lisa stormed up to her. One powerful swing.

"Urk!"

Tomo just barely managed to dodge it. Then followed another one. Tomo ducked down, the shackles zooming over her head. Lisa then raised her arms over her head, ready to give her the deadly blow once again. Tomo looked up from her crouched position. No way she could dodge this one. She was on the very edge now, so she raised the Magnum in front of her and braced herself, praying for the best. But then, Lisa's foot slipped. She managed to grab on with her hands, but she struggled to get back up. With nothing else to hold on to except for the wet floor, she lost her grip and, with a shriek, she fell down into the dark pit.

"Wh-what?" Chiyo shouted.

"I...I don't believe it...," Yomi said amazed. "Tomo, what are you doing?"

As the last stone got pushed down by Osaka and the box unlocked, Osaka looked up, wondering what just happened. She didn't believe what she was seeing. "Whoa..."

Sakaki layed the half conscious Kagura against the tunnel wall and slowly stood up. Never did she expect to see something like this happening. "Tomo...," she whispered.

Lisa dangled dangerously above the foggy darkness, with Tomo grabbing hold of her right hand tightly. With what strength she had, she prevented her from falling, laying with her belly down and her left hand pressing on the floor for support. Tomo saved her, but why?

"Not yet!" she yelled. "You can't die yet! Not now that we've come so far!"

"Tomo, are you insane? Let her go before she drags you down with her!" Yomi screamed.

"No! No way! I can't let you rest in peace in such a lousy way!" she panted. "I want to give you what you want, Lisa!"

"Lisa, seemingly able to hear and understand her, raised her head at Tomo at this last sentence. She moaned softly.

"Yomi, open the casket!" she ordered.

"B-but! Okay!" she stammered, and pushed the heavy lid partially off the sarcophagus, revealing a skeleton inside.

"After you've been through so much, after you've suffered so much, you deserve it! You want to see your mother, don't you...?"

Lisa's mouth opened slightly, and something came out. "M...mo...the..r..."

"Yes! Your mom, Jessica! You want to see her, don't you?" Tomo smiled meekly.

"Mo...mommy..."

"I can do that for you! Just hold on!"

Tomo clenched her jaws and struggled to pull her up, back to solid floor. Slowly, she managed to raise her up. Lisa's tentacles latched on the edge and she pulled herself up with them, making it easier for Tomo. Lisa crawled back to her feet, and Tomo fell back exhausted. She stood up and watched Lisa approaching the casket. She looked inside and stared for seconds. As she croaked softly, she reached her hands to one of the faces on her body and took it off, revealing the disgusting bulge on her shoulder with a moving red eye tumor on it. She took the torn off face with both hands and lowered it down into the sarcophagus. The girls watched mesmerized.

"What is she doing?" Yomi asked.

She fumbled around for a bit, and slowly took the skull of her mother out of the casket, with the face wrapped around it. She then held it close to her and emmitted a sound that resembled crying.

"She...gave the face back to her mother, just like she said she would," Kagura murmured, who had regained her composure a little.

Inside the casket, Tomo found something. The exact same family photo as before. She took it out and turned it around. As usual, there were writings on the back.

_To my Lisa,_

_Day by day I can feel my conciousness drifting further away. The shots given to me by men in white clothes made some of mommy's itching go away. Today they gave me another shot saying it was "nutrition"._

_When they give me the shots mommy can think straight, but mommy's shocked and sad because mommy's unable to think of you all the time. Mommy's afraid. Afraid of forgetting everything, especially the memories of you and daddy... What your faces look like, how we used to be together... They're all starting to disappear into somewhere dark in my mind._

_Oh Lisa, I wish I could touch your face and hold you in my arms right now, so that I can hold on to our wonderful memories of you and daddy. Lisa we can't stay here any longer, We have to escape!_

_Listen to me Lisa. Our chance to escape is the next time when we go to that lab together. We'll both pretend that we are both unconscious and when that man in white clothes is off guard that will be our chance. When we're on the outside, let's look for daddy together. Okay sweetie?_

_Be strong, Lisa._

_Nov. 13, 1967_

_Jessica Trevor_

Tomo lowered the picture and looked at Lisa, who clinged onto her mother's skull, and just stood there near the edge.

"Your mother really cared about you, even in her dying breath," she mumbled.

They stood face to face, Lisa not moving a muscle and moaning softly.

"You found your mom... Are you happy?" she asked with a faint smile.

Lisa didn't respond, but she didn't try to attack Tomo anymore either. It was like her soul was at rest now that she found what she was looking for, for so many years, for what seemed like an eternity. After going through so many inhumane acts and horrible abuse, and after desperately looking for her beloved mother, who meant everything to her, for so long, she finally found her. Lisa's quest was complete, and she could finally rest peacefully now. Tomo slowly raised Kagura's Magnum and aimed at her head.

"Then please, move on now," she said in tears. "I don't want to see you like this. I want you to...to finally be able to go to the afterlife, and meet up with your mom and dad, and...be happy..."

Lisa just stood there, looking in the barrel of the gun, not doing anything to stop her. It was like she accepted it, and wanted it.

"Goodbye...Lisa..."

Silent tears rolled down Tomo's cheeks, and Lisa muttered something.

"...th...ank...yo..u," was what it sounded like.

Tomo closed her eyes and gently pulled the trigger. The blast echoed across the room for what seemed like an eternity. Leaving behind a trail of blood, Lisa was tossed into the dark pit without making a sound. Several seconds later, a soft thud was heard from the bottom. This chapter was finally over.

Tomo let her arm hang and sighed deeply. She felt happy and sad at the same time. Mixed feeling tugging at the strings of her heart, she was amazed that she even managed to fire that time. Tomo put the gun away and took out the family pictures again. She stared at them. She was contemplating wether she should throw them down the pit, or keep them. Then, she got a brilliant idea. This story held all the proof they needed to stop Umbrella, now that they lost the camera. The idea that Lisa's, Jessica's and George's story could help stop all this made her kind of happy. So that's what she decided on. She was going to hold onto them, and show them to the police. If this didn't do it, she didn't know what would. She put them away, safely in her pocket, and walked towards the tunnel, where her friends were waiting.

_You're welcome..._

"Kagura, can you walk?" Sakaki asked worried.

"Yeah, I think so," she mumbled. "Sorry for scaring you..."

In a wobbling fashion, stood up and leaned against the wall. "I guess I'm not exactly helpful here," she said depressed. "Yomi, I'm sorry..."

"Ah, no... I should be the one apologising. I was just under a lot of stress, and I couldn't see your good intentions. So, sorry...," she said, her eyes pointed at the floor. "Besides, I got you all into trouble too..."

"Yomi, what happened? You disappeared all of a sudden," said Chiyo.

"I don't know..." Yomi started biting her lower lip, and continued. "After I ran away, I decided to cool down in the room where we slept, but before I could even get there, I suddenly blacked out. All I remember is a sharp pain at the back of my head. When I woke up, I was in a dark place, with my flashlight in my hand and my grenade launcher gone! Also, I had a crampy feeling in my neck, but that might have been because of the blow. I was in a series of dark tunnels, and I had no idea how I got there. So I tried to find a way out. But then I encountered that...Lisa, and she'd been chasing me ever since. I finally found a small exit over there, and then I met you."

"So somebody knocked you out? Any idea who it might have been?" Chiyo asked.

"No... I didn't see anything! At first, I thought it was a monster."

"Could we please hear the rest of the explanation so other time?" Sakaki interrupted. "We should be going! I'm afraid Kagura doesn't have much time left!"

"Yeah, you're right," said Tomo. "The laboratories can't be far away now."

Further down the tunnel, there was a small elevator. It couldn't hold more than 3 people at a time, so they had to temporarily split up again. Sakaki, Kagura and Chiyo went up first.

"You know, Tomo," Yomi started. "You've changed. Alot."

"I have?" she responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. What you did for that girl, how you saved her and helped her even though you could have just let her fall like any regular monster, I think that was beautiful," she smiled.

"Yeah, ya really outdid yerself this time, Tomo-chan. Ya deserve a medal for this. Ya were a great leader too while Yomi was away," Osaka noted.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Man, I don't need to be praised for that this much. I just felt sorry for her, I guess," she shrugged and looked away, slightly blushing.

"See, that's exactly why I said you changed. Normally, you would have boosted and bragged about it, but now you're being modest about it, and not to forget, a lot more honest too."

"All that in one night. Amazin', huh?"

"Argh! Okay, I get it! I've grown up! I'm no longer the loud and annoying Tomo I used to be," she yawned while turning around. "But you can't deny that you wouldn't have come this far without me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's true. Guess there's still some of the old Tomo in there too," Yomi chuckled.

Tomo turned to her and grinned. "You'd better believe it!"

"Oh, hang on, we forgot ta tell ya 'bout the camera," Osaka said.

"What about it?"

"Oh, yeah! That! Hehe," Tomo giggled nervously, scratching the back of her head. "Don't get mad, but we lost it..."

"Huh? What do you mean, lost it?"

"A giant toad ate it," Tomo said casually.

Yomi looked at her annoyed and tapped her foot. She was certain she just made that up in order to cover up for her incompetence.

"Yeah, it's true... A giant toad," Osaka confirmed.

"Wait, you're not kidding? A giant toad ate our camera?"

"Chiyo-chan's camera," the space cadet corrected.

"Hey, but don't worry!" Tomo reassured her. "I've got back up proof! I'm taking Lisa's journal with me. That should be enough, right?"

"I guess," Yomi sighed deeply. "Fine then, but it would be even better if we could get hold of a T-virus sample, or something similar."

"We can always try, right?" said Tomo. "Oh, our ride's here!"

The trio boarded the small elevator and went up the shaft. This lead them outside, behind the mansion, on a large plaza with a giant fountain in the middle. It was now well in the early noon; the sun was shining generously and temperatures were climbing up. Many dry spots had appeared on the wet stone, and they continued to expand quickly. It was a beautiful day, and Tomo and Osaka took this opportunity to bask in the sunlight peeping through the trees. This was a relatively open spot, so there was quite a lot of light, and it was nice and warm. However, despite the weather being great, there was no immediate sight of where they could go next. The plaza was beaconed with stone railings, and the only thing there was that big fountain. That wasn't to say there wasn't anything extraordinary about it, though. On each side of the fountain were statues, one of an eagle, and one of a wolf. Beneath each statue was a pedestal, with a round indentation. This was obviously where the medals came in. Osaka placed the golden eagle medal beneath the eagle statue, and then made her way to the wolf statue.

Kagura sweated like crazy, and she stood on rubber legs. Everything around her started spinning again, and her balance turned for the worst. The virus was taking its toll on her, and she was feeling it now. She grabbed Sakaki's shirt, who immediately reacted and supported her.

"Kagura, are you okay?"

Kagura shook her head and panted intensely. "I don't feel so good..."

Something started coming up Kagura's throat. She gagged, hung her head down, and wildly vomited on the ground. After that, everything turned black, and she fainted on the spot. Sakaki prevented her from falling down and placed her shoulder under her. This got the others' attention.

"She's unconscious! We have to hurry!" Sakaki stressed.

Osaka quickly placed the silver wolf medal in the hole. After that, the whole fountain started rumbling.

"Oh boy, here it comes!"

The bottom of the fountain actually turned out to be a huge hatch. As it slowly opened, the water was quickly drained, pouring down into God knows where. When the hatch was completely opened, the front of the fountain lowered, revealing a path of stairs, leading to a big elevator.

"This must be it! If they've hidden it this well, it has to be the entrance to the labs!" Yomi announced.

"We can't turn back now. Let's not waste any time...," said Tomo.

The group nodded and went down the stairs and into the lift. Luckily, it was more than big enough to carry all of them at the same time. With a nervous heart, Yomi pressed the down button, and they descended.

Lights quickly flickered by as they went deeper and deeper down the shaft. The deeper they went, the warmer the environment became. They soon discovered why. When it finally stopped and the door opened, the steam being pumped out of the pipes on the wall welcomed them warmly. They were now at the entrance hall of the laboratories; a relatively small U-shaped room, with a large boiler around the corner, and a large gate which read _opens during emergencies only._

There was another door at the end of the room, with a round screen in it. This lead them to a resting room, with a bed placed against the wall and a sink in the corner.

"Let's leave Kagura here," said Sakaki.

She layed her down on the old bed, where she shivered as having a fever attack. Sakaki placed her hand on her forehead, and she was burning up.

"She's running a fever. We'd better hurry."

"Okay," said Yomi. "But we can't just leave her here alone. Someone has to stay here and take care of her."

"I'll do it," Tomo announced. "You guys go on ahead, but hurry, and...do your best."

Yomi nodded. "Okay. Sakaki, Osaka, Chiyo, let's head out!"

"And be careful!" Tomo called out to them as the group of four disappeared through the door. She sighed, took a chair and sat beside the bed. Kagura's face was pale. She was breathing heavily, but it was steady. She couldn't tell if she was conscious or not.

"Kagura, hang in there. They're looking for the antidote now."

* * *

Wata : Another chapter over and more problems resolved. But now that they've finally reached the secret labs, they have to find a solution to their greatest problem yet.

Writing went pretty smooth, even though it's getting harder and harder to write this thing. That's why this chapter was released early. Expect 3 or 4 more chapters before we reach the conclusion.


	25. Biohazard

_The last of the few chapters is done! Number 25 already!_

_Warning : This chapter contains large amounts of dialogue, and a whole bunch of explanations, so pay attention, mkay?_

_I'll do a disclaimer again since it's been a while ; I do not own Azumanga Daioh or Resident Evil. Frankly, that should be obvious!  
_

_So, enjoy, and review!  
_

* * *

Chapter 25 : Biohazard

Just outside the resting room, Yomi ripped the laboratory map from the wall and looked at it. The labs didn't seem too complex, but there were quite a lot of rooms, and there was a lower level; the stairs leading there being in the same corridor they were in. All the different rooms were labeled. There was a Visual Data room close to where they were, behind the corner further on. Downstairs, a röntgen department, a researchers room, a security and storage room were located, as well as some others.

"This will help us. Let's go downstairs first, to the researchers room. It's not too far away."

The corridor they were in seemed to have a plumbing problem, as the floor was covered with puddles, and water dripped down from the pipes. Just around the corner, they saw the staircase. They descended it and opened the door. According to the map, this corridor was builded as a complete square. Going through it all would result in going in circles. They didn't have to, though, as the door they needed was the one immediately to the left of them.

"That's odd... There's no monsters here...," Yomi said.

"Yeah, ya noticed? It's awfully quiet here," Osaka caught on.

"Well, that's for the better. It's this door here."

Behind it was yet another corridor; a small one this time. Big veils of plastic were covering various labequipment, attached to the concrete walls. There were three doors here. One closely to the right, one further down, and a very sturdy looking one at the end. The one they needed was the middle one, so Sakaki tried it. But to their frustration, it didn't budge. It seemed to be locked from the inside.

"It's locked," Sakaki pointed out.

"Damn," Yomi huffed, looking at her map again. "There's no other way inside, at least according to the map. Maybe we have to find a key first."

"But there's no keyhole," Sakaki said.

"What? How can that be?"

"Maybe it's locked electronically," Chiyo mused.

"Well, it's no use. Let's try the storage room next. Maybe we'll find some clues there."

But when they were about to move on, a click was heard, coming from that door. Sakaki turned around on reflex and raised her Winchester. The doorknob started to wobble, and the door slightly opened to a crack.

"Who's there?" a male voice sounded threateningly. Somebody's face peeped through.

The girls were amazed at the sight, but there appeared to be a person still alive! Sakaki lowered her gun.

"A...a survivor?"

The man opened the door completely after seeing the girls standing there. He looked about as shocked and confused as them.

"Who...who are you people? How did you find this place?"

He was a man somewhere in his thirties, with a slight stubble and black, messy, medium length hair. He was obviously not American; he had an Asian appearance, possibly Japanese. He was wearing a torn and bloody labcoat, dirty trousers and leather shoes. In his hand, he carried a small pistol.

"Did you...work here?" Yomi asked out of the blue.

"Y-yes, I did...," he answered, somewhat dazed. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story, but... Please, you have to help us! One of our friends is infected and we need to find an antidote," Yomi pleaded, straight to the point.

"Huh...? Your friend? You mean there's more of you?"

"Yes, two of our friends are waiting for us in the resting room."

The mysterious man thought deeply and invited them into the room. "Come in..."

A bit weary, Yomi and the others followed him in. As soon as everyone was inside, he locked the door again.

"Hey, can we trust this guy?" Chiyo whispered suspiciously.

"He doesn't seem like a bad person, and he might be the only one who can help us," Yomi whispered back.

"An antidote...," he mumbled as he headed further into the room. He sighed and placed his hands on his sides. "I've been locking myself up here for weeks. This is the first time since long that I've seen other living people, so I apologise for being so rude."

"We understand," Yomi said politely.

Osaka looked around the researchers quarrel. It sure was loaded with stuff. X-ray pictures of a human hung from a light wall, erlenmeyer flasks and test tubes were stacked on the desks along with various chemicals and documents, and there was a strange, small chamber sealed with a round lid, which she couldn't tell the function of. The air ducts on the ceiling were welded shut for some reason, too.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nobuo Miyamoto, I was a researcher at this establishment until the accident."

"Nobuo Miyamoto?" Sakaki repeated. "So you are Japanese?"

"Yes, I am. I moved to America about ten years ago, and I got married here. You girls are from Japan too, correct? Tourists?"

"Ehm...yes... But things got a little out of hand...," Yomi explained cryptically.

"I see... I'm amazed that you found this place. It must have been difficult to get through that devilish mansion."

"Yeah, it was. I'm Koyomi. Mizuhara Koyomi."

"Pleased to meet you. And you are?"

"Ah, Mihama Chiyo."

"Kasuga Ayumu, but just Osaka 'll do."

"Sakaki..."

"Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, Miyamoto-san, but we really need to find an antidote, if there is one. Our friend, Kagura... She's running out of time," Yomi said.

"Right...," he sighed. "So, she was bitten, am I right?" To which Yomi nodded. "That's unfortunate. I'll get straight to the point. When Umbrella created the T-virus, there were no plans to create an antidote at first. But a small group of people who worked here came together and started working on one, because they feared that an accident with such a dangerous agent was just around the corner. And, well...you've seen it; they were right. I, myself, was part of that group."

"So, did you succeed in making that antidote?"

"That's where things become a little complicated," he continued. "We did succeed in taking small portions of the T-virus and genetically altering the active components. When administered, they should have a reversed effect; neutralising the virus in human tissue and denaturalising the proteïns, causing the virus to break apart. However, this was just a primitive antidote, a beta version you could say, and we never got the chance to test it. Around this time, the accident occured, and the research had to be abandoned."

"I...I see," Yomi said, gazing at the floor. "But, that beta anti-virus, do you still have it?"

"I don't," Miyamoto shrugged. "But normally, it should still be where we last left it. When the beta was made, we left it in the freezer in the operating room. However, that room was sealed off, for a good reason..."

"Whatever that reason is, Miyamoto-san, we really have to go get it. Kagura is depending on us," Sakaki said.

"That is fine by me, but you should know that it's extremely dangerous there."

"Why?" Chiyo inquired. "What's in there?"

Miyamoto looked up to the welded shut air duct and sighed.

"Chimera," he said softly.

"Chimera?" Yomi repeated. "Are those other Biological Weapons?"

"Yes, and they're everywhere. They constantly move around in the air vents. When I'm trying to sleep at night, I can hear them, crawling, hissing, shrieking and scraping, right up in that vent over there. That's why I welded it shut, and locked all the doors so they couldn't get in here. They are the main reason why I never leave this place, but I fear that they'll soon find another way in somehow, or break through the vents eventually."

"But if they move through the ducts, why was the operating room sealed off?" Yomi asked.

"Because the first Chimera broke out in the operating room, where they were doing experiments on it. After tearing one of the scientists apart, the door to the operating room was blocked off until the matter was taken care of. But, in out carelessness, we didn't take the ducts into account, and it managed to escape. The door is still blocked, and I can't open it. Besides, I'm sure there's more Chimera in there."

"This doesn't make any sense to me. If that monster escaped, why did they still leave the door sealed off?" Yomi questioned.

"I'm not surprised that it doesn't make any sense to you, Mizuhara-san. It all happened so fast; you just had to be here when it did. But I'll explain later. You want to go find the antidote, right?"

"Yes, but you said the door to the room it's in is blocked," Sakaki said.

"It is, but there's another way, and I can show it to you."

"Really? Thank you, we're in your debt," Yomi smiled hopefully. "Let's get going, now!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back the resting room, Tomo was holding a small towel under a stream of cool water from the tap. She wringed out the excess water until it was nice and moist. She walked up to the bed and layed it on Kagura's forehead. She sat down on the chair by the bed and gently grabbed her wrist.

"Her pulse is pretty weak...," she said to herself.

Kagura's breathing was still heavy, but not as heavy as before. Her body seemed to have calmed down a bit. Yet, she still had a fever, and her face was just as pale as before. Suspiciously, she loosened the bandage on her arm. The wound didn't get any worse, and seemed to be doing fairly well; nothing to worry about there. She was tightening it up again, when Kagura groaned softly. Slowly, her eyes opened again.

"Hey, welcome back," Tomo smiled.

"Tomo...?" she uttered weakly. "Where are we?"

"In the labs," she answered. "We finally found them. The others are doing their best to look for the anti-virus, so just sit tight."

"I see. I had a horrible dream...," she mumbled. "I was out in the woods, running and running, and I heard zombies chasing me. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't shake them, and they just came closer. Then I suddenly stopped, and I turned around, and...it turned out that...the zombies...they were you guys. You all surrounded me. I tried to fight back, but you started biting me all over, and then I woke up."

"Hey, it was just a bad dream. You're just a little upset. None of us are turning into zombies," Tomo said in a comforting tone.

"I know, but...I can't help feeling a little bit bad now, you know..."

Tomo chuckled quietly. "You don't need to feel bad about a silly dream. You don't have to worry about a thing. The others will be back soon, and they'll bring back something, I'm sure."

"I hope so...," Kagura said sadly. "But...Tomo, can you promise me something? You still have my Magnum, right? If the time comes, will you...you know...put me out my misery?"

Tomo looked down to the ground. What Kagura was asking her now, she wasn't sure if she could handle that. But she couldn't just turn her down either. She put a small smile on her face and grabbed Kagura by the shoulder.

"Yeah, sure... I promise..."

"Thanks..."

"You just rest now. I'll protect you if something happens."

Kagura hummed and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep. Tomo leaned back in her chair and stared at her reflection in Kagura's Magnum.

_What am I supposed to do...?_

_

* * *

_

In the security and storage room, Osaka stared at quite a peculiar, if not disturbing sight from behind a window. Several frozen dead bodies hanging from hooks in transparent bodybags.

"What're these cadavers for?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I don't know," Miyamoto said. "This is not my branch. I was surprised when I saw them too. My best guess is that they use them for some kind of tests."

"But, why would ya use dead bodies for testin'?"

"Beats me. You seem to be taking this stored corpses thing pretty lightly, I must say," he said absent mindedly.

"You kiddin' me? I've seen 'em walk."

Miyamoto was typing away on a computer, next to a bloodied surgery table. Yomi, Sakaki and Chiyo were looking from behind his back.

"Luckily, I managed to get a hold of the information needed to unlock some of the rooms in these laboratories. Most of the doors are locked electronically, while others require a specific key. The door we'll need to open to get to the operating room is password protected."

A notice appeared on screen, which said _enter password._

"The password is C-E-L-L. CELL!"

After the computer processed the information, a message appeared, saying that the room Laboratory 1 was now unlocked.

"Alright. I'll unlock the Visual Data room as well, if we ever need to go there."

"So, we have to go through Laboratory 1 to get to the operating room, right?" Yomi asked.

"Yes," he answered. There are some airvents connecting both rooms, so once we get there, you'll have to crawl through those. Don't worry though, they're not very long. Basically, they cross the corridor, and the operating room is immediately at the other side. I don't want to go in there, but if I have to..."

Yomi gulped and scratched her head. Were these Chimera creatures that horrible, that this full grown man was deadly afraid of them? But they didn't have a choice; they had to go there. "Alright, let's go then..."

Miyamoto nodded, and turned off the power of the computer.

They all left the security room, which was just by the square shaped corridor. The room in question was just up ahead, behind the corridor. In this part, there was more old laboratory equipment tucked away at the side, and a large, spinning fan with light behind it, casting a constantly moving shadow on the walls. When Yomi carefully opened the door, a penetrating stench met her.

"Ugh, what is this?" Miyamoto mumbled. "They're keeping more bodies here?"

There wasn't all that much to see though. A tall row of shelves basically split this room in two. On the other side, they could see some big, black bags; bodybags, and they were obviously occupied. There was no sign of monsters though, so they figured the coast was clear. Just a little ahead was a medium sized hole in the top of the wall, big enough for a person to crawl through.

"Through here?" Yomi asked, to which Miyamoto nodded. "That's pretty high," she noted.

"Don't worry, I think I can reach that," said Sakaki.

Yomi looked at her, then nodded. "Alright, but watch yourself."

"Sakaki-san, be careful!" said Chiyo.

"Yeah. I'll be right back."

"Don't forget, the antidote is kept in the freezer. It's in a small, steel box. Get back here as soon as you can, and be careful. Those things can be sneaky," said Miyamoto.

Sakaki threw her shotgun in first, then jumped, grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up. The vent was quite narrow, but she could crawl through relatively well. The exit was already in sight when she just got in, so it definitely wasn't long. Cautiously, she poked her head out of the vent and looked around the room. It was obvious why they called this the operating room, because there was a surgery table with old bloodstains on it, and shelves with other surgery equipment, such as scalpels and syringes. The walls and floor were tiled with white and green tiles. On the floor was a mangled dead body with deep lacerations in the torso. His head was cut off. Again, no monsters in sight. When she was sure it was safe, she jumped down into the room. There was the freezer sitting in the corner of the room. It was quite small, and with some bloodtains on it. But the humming coming from it indicated that it still worked. She opened it and searched through all the stuff that was kept in it. There were actually several steel boxes, but they were all labeled. However, there was no mention of a T-virus antidote on any of them. Sakaki became a bit panicky, but she then noticed a small, metallic compartment above the bottom row. She pulled the ice cold handle and opened it, revealing another box. She took it out, and the label read "Tyrant Virus antidote : bèta"

"Yes, this is it!" she said to herself.

She took it with her and closed the compartment, but then she saw something moving in the reflection of the metallic hatch. It was a glimpse of a face; one of the scariest faces she'd ever seen. There was something behind her!

Quickly, she rolled out of the way, the box tightly in her hand, as a long, sharp claw zoomed down, ripping through the freezer. Just a second too late, and that would've been her. Sakaki stood up and looked at her enemy. But what was it?

A truly grotesque and frightening creature straight from a horror movie; half human, half insect. A human skull with some meat on it, but with a lower jaw so wide it pointed 90 degrees down. Large, white eyes and some hairs on its head, a body of mostly naked muscles, but covered with insect like exoskeleton at the chest, torso and parts of the arms and legs. It sported some insect legs at the side of its body, small fly wings on the back, and each hand was just one big, long claw. Upon looking closer, Sakaki also saw tiny hairs all over its body. A monster created by mixing DNA of a human with that of a fly; a Chimera.

Horrified, Sakaki stared as it emitted a gurgling screech and took a crouching position. Quickly, Sakaki raised her shotgun and fired, but the Chimera jumped up and latched itself onto the ceiling.

"So fast!"

She aimed up, but the monster was already scurrying across the ceiling, until it was right above her. She dropped both her shotgun and the box when it grabbed her with its paws and pulled her from the ground. Sakaki struggled as the grip the monster had her in suffocated her, and as she dangled above the floor.

"Urgh..."

She grabbed its arms, and was immediately disgusted by the feeling of its skin. Small, stiff hairs pressed onto her hands, and the skin was covered with a strange mucus. It felt nasty, to say the least. Sakaki tried to pull its arms apart, but the smaller bug legs stung at her arms. She hissed at the stings, leaving small, bleeding wounds. With no other option, she took the dagger from her holster and stabbed it in the torso. The Chimera screeched and released her, falling down to the ground with her. Large amounts of brownish, hemolymph like blood stained her blade and the floor. Sakaki quickly got up, but so did the mutant. She needed to find her shotgun, but couldn't take her eyes of the bug freak. One slip and it could mean the end. With the dagger in her hand, she took a battle pose and faced off with the monster. If she could just deliver another strike, she would have enough time to pick up her weapon and finish it off. She carefully approached, with her guard up one hundred percent. The wounded Chimera swung at her with its claw, but she kept a safe distance.

"Come on...," she mumbled.

It let out a loud scream, stumbled back, and swiftly leapt at her. Sakaki yelped in surprise, and caught the monster with her dagger. With the other hand, she grabbed its arm, and twisted and churned the blade as it was lodged into its chest. She forcefully pushed it off her before it managed to bite her, and took her chances getting her shotgun back. But the Chimera didn't give up, and just jumped at her again. It pushed her down on her back, and she once again had to struggle to get it off of her. Its disgusting face was now so close to hers. Quickly, she stabbed it in the neck, several times. Each time the blade disappeared into its flesh, it squeeled, and blood splurted out of the wounds. Blood fell down on Sakaki's face, but there was something else too, and it was moving. She kicked it off her again and scrambled back to her feet, picking up her shotgun. The moving thing fell off her face, so she could see what it was. It was a white, tiny, squirming, worm like creature.

"A...maggot?"

The Chimera was mortally wounded, but other than the brown blood, maggots fell out of the wounds, and a lot of them. As the monster slowly died, a big, wiggling mass collected on the floor. Sakaki held her hand in front of her mouth, so close to vomiting by the disgusting sight. But like it couldn't possibly get any worse, the Chimera's body suddenly started to dissolve like being exposed to acid, until nothing was left but a big puddle of gore. Needless to say, the stench was overwhelming. Sakaki took the steel box and headed back up the vent, because she really had to get out of there or she was going to be sick.

Back in the other room, Sakaki passed down the box and jumped out of the vent, before sitting down against the wall panting.

"This is it alright," Miyamoto said, and opened the box. Inside were ten small vials containing a greenish fluid, protected by the box's padded walls, and some sterile syringes. "They're all still there, and they seem to be in good state."

"Sakaki-san, are you okay?" Chiyo asked. "We heard a gunshot."

"You ran into a Chimera?" Miyamoto guessed.

Sakaki nodded, still with a disturbed and sickened look on her face.

"I see..., judging by your expression. They are quite abominable creatures indeed."

"It...just came out of nowhere. I was just in time to avoid it. It was horrible...," she shuddered.

"Horrible? Like how?" Yomi inquired.

"It was like a half human, half insect. It...it had maggots in its body, and...it melted after it died," she answered.

"That doesn't sound nice," Osaka gulped.

"You don't know half of it..."

"Yes, they dissolve because of a chemical imballance in their bodies, but I'll tell you more about that later. I suggest we go see your friend right now," said Miyamoto.

So they headed back to the resting room, where Tomo and Kagura were waiting. Kagura was fast asleep and Tomo was keeping watch beside her.

"You're back!" Tomo said relieved. "Who is that?"

"Nobuo Miyamoto, I worked here. And you are...?"

"Tomo," she answered. "Tomo Takino. This is Kagura. So, did you find anything?"

"We did," Yomi said, "but...well..."

"No good, huh?" she muttered.

"That's the problem. We don't know yet."

"Eh? What's that mean?"

Miyamoto sat down on the edge of the bed and examined the sleeping girl. "To put it simple, Takino-san, we have an antidote, but it's an untested product, so we don't know if it's going to work, nor do we know if there are side-effects and, if so, what they are."

"Oh... So it's kinda dangerous, right?"

"It's the only lead we have," Yomi reasoned. "This is the only antidote that was ever worked on here, so we don't have a choice but to take our chances."

"Exactly," said Miyamoto. He grabbed her wrist, feeling that her pulse was rather weak, but now ran at a normal pace. "Blood pressure seems to be kind of low, but she has a steady pulse. When was she infected?"

"Uhm... She was bitten by a zombie about five hours ago," Sakaki replied.

"Five hours? That's odd...," he mumbled as he pulled down Kagura's eyelid.

"How so?" Yomi asked confused.

"Well, after being infected, it normally takes several days for the subject to turn into what you would call a zombie. At least, if the subject stays alive after being infected."

"Are you serious?" Yomi exclaimed. "Then why is Kagura is such a state? It looks to me like she only has a little bit of time left!"

"But hang on! Kagura was attacked by a Neptune," Chiyo mused. "Isn't it possible that it's because her body was weakened that the virus worked faster?"

"Attacked by a Neptune?" Miyamoto repeated. "When was this?"

"I don't know. Two hours earlier, maybe," Yomi guessed.

"And she survived? That's quite amazing, because Neptune are natural killing machines. But anyway, it's plausible that a weakened body shows less resistance to the virus, but, not to this extend."

"Then...why?" Yomi pondered.

"Wait a minute...!" Tomo suddenly shouted. "You don't think it's like this...watcha call it..., placebo effect thing, do you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Yomi frowned.

"Well, you know. It's like when you're sick, and they give you something that doesn't really do anything, but if you really think it will work, you start feeling better. And, if you start thinking that you're sick, you really start feeling sick. That kind of thing."

"You mean it's all between her ears?" said Chiyo.

"Oh come on," Yomi sighed. "That's rediculous. Didn't you see? Kagura is really sick, there's no way that-"

"No, actually, it's a pretty reasonable explanation," Miyamoto interrupted her. "The human psyche is a lot more powerful on the body than most people believe. If Kagura-san here knew she was infected and kept thinking and worrying about it, she probably would've started feeling ill before the virus actually took effect."

"B-but, she has a fever, and she fainted. Not to mention, she threw up," Yomi argued.

"Fainting is very common with people who suffered severe injuries. Plus, like you said, her body is weakened, and she probably hasn't eaten or slept in quite a while. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the Tyrant virus."

"Well, that's all true..., but what about the fever?"

"Ah, I think I have an idea what's causing that."

Miyamoto carefully unwrapped the bandages around Kagura's arm, revealing the zombie bite.

"As I thought. This wound is infected. Wounds that are badly infected can have effects on the entire body, and not just locally. Heavy transpiration, a fever attack and regurgitating are, again, very common. If anything, this inflammated wound would have been more threatening to her life than the actual virus. However, it looks like this wound has already been desinfected in the meantime, so it's really not as bad as it sounds. In fact, her fever already seems to be down. Basically, a treatment with antibiotics should straighten her right out. Still, I'm going to do some additional treatment to avoid sepsis."

Everyone was looking at him with big eyes and question marks above their heads, clearly not understanding all those medical terms.

"Uhm... She's going to be fine. I'm giving her antibiotics and I'll take care of her wound again so she doesn't get a blood poisoning."

"Oh!" they all said together.

"So, it was all just in my head, huh?" Kagura chuckled weakly. "I feel so embarrased."

"Oh, you're awake?" said Miyamoto.

"Yeah. I have been for a while, but I felt awkward, so I pretended to be asleep."

"Hehe. Well, it wasn't just in your head, it was a combination of different kind of things. But it's physically impossible for the T-virus to work this fast. The minimum incubation period is too high. Unless you would have died."

"Unless I died?" she repeated.

"Yes. It's a strange phenomena, but as soon as an infected body stops to function, the incubation period, that is the time between infection and the first symptoms, decreases dramatically. I have seen people getting killed and transform into a zombie in just a few minutes. It's probably because the immune system is completely shut off when you die."

"Is that why you couldn't use your antidote on any of the people here?" Yomi questioned.

"Yes, that's right. That, and because we simply couldn't reach it anymore, like I already said. But anyway, to put it bluntly, if Kagura-san really was in such an advanced state like you thought, it would've been impossible to save her now."

"But...you're sure she's not, right?" Sakaki asked.

"I'm positive. But that doesn't take away the fact that she's infected with the T-virus."

"So, do you think the anti-virus will work, then?" Chiyo asked.

"Theoretically, yes. We did some tests under the microscope, where we took a small sample of the T-virus and added an even smaller amount of the antidote to it. The active components apparently broke down the proteïn structure of the T-virus, neutralising it. We calculated the approximate dosage of the antidote for the average human body, but we never got the chance to test it on an actual person. Therefore, I have to warn you that I don't know the possible side effects after being administered."

"But there's a chance that there's none, right?" Yomi concluded.

"Yes."

"Then that's a no-brainer, isn't it?" Tomo shrugged. "We'll take that chance, right, Kagura?"

"Definitely. It can only get better, right? Shoot me up," Kagura said promptly.

"Okay, let's get started then."

Doctor Miyamoto took a sterilised syringe out of the package, grabbed one of the vials in the box and filled up the syringe with it. He then made some of it eject and flicked his finger against it to make sure all the air was out. He grabbed Kagura's upper arm and squeezed tightly, making the veins appear clearly. The needle disappeared into her artery, and slowly, he injected the greenish fluid, to the last drop.

"There we go. All done!"

"But how can we tell that it works?" asked Yomi.

"We'll wait for a while, and then I'll take her blood sample. If I study that, we should be able to tell if the virus is neutralised."

"Thanks, Miyamoto-san," Kagura smiled politely.

"Don't mention it. Now then, I noticed you've all suffered some injuries as well. I should give you all a shot too."

"Huh? Oh, right," Yomi blurted. "Precautions, right?"

"What? What do you mean? No, you were all attacked by B.O.W, right?"

The girls all looked at eachother puzzled. "Errr...yeah?" Tomo said.

"So then, you're all infected..."

That last statement struck the girls like a shockwave. All of them were dumbstruck and speechless.

"WHAT?" they all shouted.

"You mean, you don't have to get bitten to be infected?" Yomi exclaimed.

"No... You didn't know that? Just getting scratched by any B.O.W is enough for the virus to be transferred. Even coming in contact with infected blood is enough."

Yomi didn't know what she was hearing. She turned around and covered her face with her hand. "I...I don't believe it...," she mumbled. "I...I was so sure that we were doing fine until I found out that Kagura was bitten, but...I was already infected when we killed the first zombie, when the blood fell on my face..."

"H-hey, Yomi, don't worry about it," Tomo said, trying to reassure her. "We've got an antidote now. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, but think about it! If Kagura never got bitten, we would never have bothered to look for an antidote, because we thought we were still clean," Yomi explained. "And we would've gotten out of here without knowing that we were carrying the virus. And then, after a few days..."

"We would've turned into zombies, in the middle of Raccoon City," Tomo gulped.

"We could have spreaded the infection...," Chiyo muttered. "Not just us, but the whole city could have been doomed. Maybe even the world..."

"So actually, Kagura-san saved the world by gettin' bitten," Osaka pointed out.

"Unintentionally, yeah," Yomi said.

"Wow, seriously?" Tomo grunted, holding her head. "Talk about a fortune in misfortune. You hear that, Kagura? You're a hero!"

"N-no, I'm not," she blushed. "It was just coincidence..."

"Well, no use pondering about what could have been," Yomi said, crossing her arms. "I guess we'll be taking that antidote too."

With that being said, Miyamoto injected the girls with the anti-virus, one by one.

"Yeowch!" Tomo yelped as the needle penetrated her skin. "Man, I hate needles!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Yomi lectured, holding the sore spot on her arm.

"Be gentle, please," Chiyo pleaded when it was her turn.

"Hey, it'll be over before you know it," Miyamoto said.

After everyone got a dosage, Miyamoto looked after Kagura's wound with Sakaki's first aid kit.

"Hey, Miyamoto-san, now that we're all settled," Yomi began, "could you please tell us about this place and what happened here?"

"Well, I don't know everything, because I've only worked at this facility for a few years, but I picked up some things from my co-workers, and some of the things aren't exactly pretty."

"We know. We found out that the people who were working here were treated like animals, especially after the outbreak. Some of them were supposedly murdered as they tried to escape. Is that true?"

"I've heard rumours about that, yes. But to tell you the truth, I've rarely seen what is above the surface. Us elite scientists weren't allowed to leave these labs, as strange as that may sound."

"So, you practically lived here?" Sakaki said.

"Not just practically. We were here all the time. Somehow, we had to make ourselves at home here, which wasn't easy, considering all the dangerous activities taking place here."

"So, this mansion was built in the sixties by a man named George Trevor. They had him create all kinds of strange traps. Any idea why?" Yomi inquired.

"I've heard something about that, too. They say that man did build the traps, but they were built in such a way that they couldn't kill anyone. But Spencer, the boss of this facility, apparently had the traps altered to make them more dangerous, and with the intention to kill intruders. It's quite a bonechilling story. The mansion above us is just a big cover-up for where we are now. Of course, no outsiders were supposed to find this place, hence the traps and puzzles. That's why it amazed me to see you all here."

"And such a disgusting man is the one you worked for?" Tomo frowned.

"I didn't know when I was first assigned here. The first year, I was in charge of taking care of several B.O.W in the Umbrella Training Facility just a few miles away. And then I got promoted, and I was transferred here. I heard the Training Facility was shut down a few months ago."

"That's something I wanted to know for a while now. What exactly does Umbrella have to do with this?" Yomi asked on.

"A better question would be, what _doesn't_ Umbrella have to do with this. Everything that was going on here, it was all under Umbrella. On the outside world, the Umbrella corporation is just a normal pharmaceutical company, making medicines that are sold in the regular pharmacies. But the real intentions of Spencer are a lot darker, and a lot more disturbing."

"Creating Bio-Organic Weapons for military use?" Yomi predicted.

"Exactly! And this has been going on before this mansion was even built. It all started with a virus called the Progenitor virus, substracted from a special flower called the Progenitor-flower, or 'Stairway To The Sun', which was discovered in East Africa. It was a highly potent non-carcinogenic mutagen, that fell in the hands of Ozwell Spencer, James Marcus and Edward Ashford, who all founded the Umbrella corporation a few years later. Ashford supposedly died after being infected, but Marcus continued his research on it. But it wasn't Marcus who had plans to use it for military purposes, but Spencer. Marcus was only interested in the effects on organic tissues. It was during that time that the first B.O.W were created."

"So then, how was the T-virus made?" Kagura asked.

"By injecting the Progenitor virus into leeches."

"Leeches?" Chiyo lisped.

"Yes. By combining the Progenitor with leech DNA, the Tyrant virus was born, or as we know it, the T-virus. These are more rumors that went around here, but Marcus was supposedly assassinated by Spencer after this discovery, and Spencer took all the research data for himself."

"That makes sense. If Marcus had completely different intentions than Spencer, he would have been a thorn in his side," Yomi reasoned. "Plus, he would've made a lot more money."

"You're quite a bright girl, Mizuhara-san. That's exactly what we concluded."

"But still, killing somebody just for that?" Tomo added.

"I told you it wasn't pretty. Throughout its history, Umbrella constantly had blood on its hands, and that's why they made sure none of this made it out to the public."

"That's finally going to change when we make it out of here," the bespectacled girl grumbled. "No way am I going to let this slip by."

"After all that," he continued, "production of B.O.W went on here, some were failures, but other were perfectly adaptable for Spencer's intentions, like the MA-121 Hunters. But more and more things started to go wrong, and it all took a nosedive after the incident with the Chimera. Like I already said, one day, tests on a Chimera went completely wrong. It killed one of my co-workers and escaped through the vents. Quickly after, it attacked and killed other people, and before we knew it, the place was roaming with zombies. Then, Spencer took all of the T-virus samples with him and fled, leaving everyone else behind. Those left in charge placed us all in quarantine with an iron fist, so it's not unlikely that some people were killed by them. But, it didn't take long before they also fell victim, and I quickly became one of the only survivors."

"So it was actually that Chimera that caused the outbreak," said Sakaki.

"Yes, but even if that wouldn't have happened, a disaster was always lurking just around the corner. It had to happen someday. It was inevitable. That's why me and some others started work on an antidote, but we were too late to stop it."

"That must have been horrible, being trapped down here for so long with all these monsters," said Tomo.

"It was. That's why I'm glad to see some other living people," he smiled. "But enough about that. I think it's time to evaluate the results of the antidote. I'm going to need a blood sample of each of you."

Miyamoto collected a small drop of blood of each of the girls on seperate microscope slides by using sterile needles. After that, he spreaded out the blood, wrote their names on it with a marker, and placed them in a case.

"Okay, that will do. I'm heading back to my room now to examine them. I'll be back soon."

"Wait," Yomi interrupted him. "You're going alone?"

"Yes. Don't worry, I'll be fine. It won't take long, so just wait here."

Before anyone else could say anything, Miyamoto left the room, leaving the girls behind a bit baffled.

"That's weird," Chiyo said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought he was too afraid to go through the laboratories alone because of those Chimera."

"He probably has his reasons," said Yomi. "We'll just wait here until he comes back."

"Are you sure we can trust that man?" Chiyo asked suspiciously. "What if he's planning something?"

"He helped us, right? Besides, he doesn't look like the type to betray other people like that. He looked genuinely horrified when he explained what happened here."

"I guess you're right..."

"So, Kagura. How're ya feelin'?" Osaka asked, standing by the bedside.

"Tired, hungry and thirsty," she replied. "But I guess I'm okay."

"Ya tell me! I'm starvin' too."

"I think we all are," Tomo joined in. "Hey guys, you know what would be awesome right now? A big, juicy, American hamburger!"

"With an extra large serving of fries," Kagura added.

"An' a big ol' coke with ice..."

"You know what I'd like?" Chiyo said. "A big serving of pancakes like I had yesterday. They were delicious!"

"Yeah, that's right," Osaka answered. "But...Chiyo-chan..."

Osaka looked Chiyo straight in the eyes, pointed her finger at her, and said; "Ya ain't got no pancake mix!"

Chiyo tilted her head and looked at her confused.

* * *

Wata : Hurr hurr, internet humor! I wonder how many people got that... So I didn't end this chapter in a cliffhanger this time, just to make it a bit more bearable for you guys. In fact, I ended it in a joke! A stupid joke, but a joke nonetheless.

I hope the extensive dialogue didn't turn you off, and hopefully you payed enough attention, because I explained quite alot.

Tomo : Language too difficult... Head spinning...

Wata : Also, hope you're not too angry at me for making you all worry about Kagura so much. It's true though, the T-virus takes several days to transform a person into a zombie in the games (I'm not basing this information on the movies). None of you knew that? Haven't you read the famous keeper's diary in the game? The part about only having to be scratched by a monster to get infected is also true, but in the games, this doesn't happen to the player to make the game more reasonable, I guess...

As for the antidote, I made it up, and it is slightly based on the one in the RE movies. There are some anti-virusses in the game series, but I couldn't use any of them, so I just thought up a different scenario and a different antidote. Creative license, ya?

Also, hurray for OC's!

Kagura : What a scam! Angry hordes of people will be standing at your door with torches for this!

Wata : Yeah right. As if I have hordes of readers... They're probably be happy you're still alive. But, does the antidote work? I guess there's still a bit of cliffhanger here... Well, see you next time!


	26. Diluting Blood With Tears

_Please read this!_

_These are the chapters that will make or break the entire story, so I'm kinda nervous and even hesitant about publishing this._

_To be honest, parts of the first half of this chapter seems rather crappy to me. Mainly the transitions feel kind of tired, but I guess that's just because I am tired of writing. The action scene is sub par in comparison to what I've done before, and I'm in no way happy with it, but I didn't feel like brooding about it too long._

_However, these are not very important, and it's all just my opinion. The second half of the chapter is what I put the most effort into, and unlike the first half, I am quite satisfied with it._

_So, I have to plead with you, the reader._

_After you're done reading, please take a little bit of time to submit a review, and tell me honestly what you thought about this chapter in particular. It doesn't matter if it's long or short; I appreciate every review. But for this one, I especially request feedback._

_Thanks in advance, and please enjoy.  
_

* * *

Chapter 26 : Diluting Blood With Tears

The group of six had been waiting for over 45 minutes, so they took this time to rest their bodies a little and discuss what they were going to do next. A way to get out of there was still something they hadn't thought of.

"So, anyone have any ideas?" Yomi asked the group, sitting against the wall.

"I have been thinking," Tomo answered. "I remember reading in the newspaper article about police helicopters circling the forest in search of that missing person, right? If we're lucky, they're still doing that now."

"That's right!" Chiyo exclaimed hopefully. "If they're out there, and we can grab their attention, they could get us out of here!"

"But how're we gonna let 'em know we're here?" Osaka questioned.

"It's not unreasonable to think there's a heliport somewhere around here for evacuation purposes. If there is, chances are there are flares around too, or some other way to communicate." Yomi said calmly. "It may be our best lead."

"But, we don't know where this heliport is, if there even is one," Kagura brought up.

To this, Yomi looked at her map, but she couldn't find a heliport on it. There was an emergency door in the room nextdoor though. "It might be behind the emergency gate in that room over there. It would make a lot of sense to me. But that one only opens during an emergency, obviously."

"That's a problem," Tomo mused.

"We'll have to trigger an emergency situation to go through, but that could be too dangerous. Besides, I'm not sure what they mean with emergency," Yomi said, biting her thumbnail.

Suddenly, faint footsteps could be heard from the corridor. When Yomi got up, the door slowly opened, and there stood Miyamoto. He had a smile on his face.

"Sorry it took so long," he said, "but the results are in," to which everyone gathered around in suspense.

"I'm happy to say that it was a success. I studied the blood samples under the microscope, and it showed that the T-virus cells have been completely neutralised by the antidote. The antidote will remain in your blood for quite a while, destroying the viral genome that made it into your body cells, so it's going to take a little longer until you're fully recovered, but the outcome should be positive."

Upon hearing this news, the girls' faces quickly transformed from stressed and nervous expressions, to happy and relieved ones.

"Really?" Tomo sparkled.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"YESSSSS!" she cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. "Kagura is going to fine too, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Oh, my goodness," Kagura sighed. "That's so good to hear. It's like a huge weight just fell off my shoulders."

"And I brought you something else," Miyamoto said. He reached into his labcoat pocket, pulled out a small box and gave it to Kagura. "This is penicillin, antibiotics for your infection. They're made by Umbrella, but don't worry, they're perfectly legit. You have to take one three times a day, one or two hours before a meal. Keep taking them like this until the box is empty, which should be after 7 days. You can start tomorrow, since the infection has been calmed down for now. But don't forget, and don't interrupt the treatment, okay?"

Kagura nodded and tucked the box away in her pocket. "Thanks, doctor."

"That's definitely some good news you brought us, Miyamoto-san. I can't thank you enough," Yomi smiled politely.

"Oh no," Miyamoto said, waving his hand in front of him. "You don't need to thank me. I just did what I felt I had to do."

"Still, we are in your debt. We couldn't have done this without you."

"Well, you're welcome," he said timidly. "That reminds me, Mizuhara-san, I need your help with something. I would greatly appreciate it if you could assist me."

Yomi looked at him doubtfully. "Uhm... Just me?" she asked, pointing at herself.

"Yes, if that is possible," he smiled.

Suspicion rose in her and the others. Why would he need just her, and not the rest? Was he planning something with her? They remained silent for a while.

"...okay...," she finally answered.

"Good, now please, come with me."

As Miyamoto headed for the door, Tomo and Kagura looked at eachother, communicating with eachother through body language. They both agreed; there was something fishy about this. Tomo waved the Magnum up and down slightly, and Kagura nodded. Tomo ran up to Yomi and pushed the Magnum in her hand.

"Take this, and keep an eye on him," she whispered.

Yomi hummed in affirmation and followed Miyamoto out.

"I wonder...if something's wrong," Sakaki said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Yeah. He may have saved us, but there's something not right about him," Tomo said, her hands on her hips.

"That's not it," Sakaki replied. "I think he's not telling us something; something only Yomi is supposed to know."

"Like what?" Chiyo inquired.

"I don't know. Maybe it's about us, but he called out Yomi alone because he thinks she's the most neutral one of our group. Maybe..."

"Ya don't think he's doublecrossin' us, do ya?" Osaka asked.

"No, I don't think so. He doesn't look like someone who has bad intentions. Well, we'll see..."

* * *

Yomi followed Miyamoto down the corridor, trailing some distance behind, the Magnum clenched in her hand. He went down the stairs and headed back to his room. Once Yomi was inside, he turned on the lights and locked the door. He walked past her, but suddenly stopped.

"Mizuhara-san, are you suspicious of me?"

Yomi kept quiet. She didn't know what to answer to that.

"I understand... After having heard everything about what happened here, I'm not surprised that you are," he smiled slightly, turning to her.

"I...I'm sorry... I just..."

"No, it's okay. Can I call you Yomi?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay then, Yomi. Come over here. I want to show you something."

Miyamoto walked towards his desk and Yomi followed. He took a picture frame, looked at it for a few seconds, and gave it to her. On the photograph were an adult woman with long, brown hair, blue eyes and wearing a blue dress, smiling cheerfully, and carrying a little girl in her arms. She was a cute child, with long blonde hair, big blue eyes just like her mother and wearing a pink dress, but with a strange expression on her face. She looked very serious, almost angry even, and with a fiery look in her eyes. She couldn't have been more than five years old.

"Are these your wife and daughter?" Yomi asked.

"Yes," Miyamoto answered. "My wife, Vanessa, and my daughter, Rebecca."

"Rebecca..." Yomi repeated smiling. "She's so cute... She looks feisty though."

"Yes, she does, doesn't she?" he laughed meekly. "She has a bit of a temper, but she's actually a sweet girl. And she's very talented, too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Vanessa told me. Turns out she's actually a child prodigy. Because I couldn't leave this place, we wrote to eachother a lot, you see. In every letter, Rebecca wrote her own passages all by herself, without the help of her mother. If you read them, you wouldn't believe that they were written by a girl that's not even ten years old. She already writes like an adult."

"She must have gotten that from her father," Yomi said delighted. "Coincidentally, we also have a child prodigy in our crew. Chiyo-chan. She actually managed to skip five grades to tenth grade when she was only ten years old."

"Ah, Mihama-san? She looks like a bright girl, yes. But... I don't mean to brag at all, but Rebecca is qualified to enroll at MIT in just a year from now."

Yomi gave him a look that said 'you're kidding, right?' all over. She sweat dropped and her eyelid twitched. "Ehhh...MIT? As in, Massachusetts Institute of Technology?"

"Yes, that's right."

"One of the most prestigious universities in the world?"

"Yes."

"And she's how old?"

"Eight years old right now."

Yomi started chuckling. "Haha, no come on. You're not serious, right?"

Miyamoto smiled, sort of delighted that Yomi refused to believe him. "I'm serious."

Yomi looked at the picture again with big eyes, stunned by one of the most radical things she'd ever heard in her whole life. She looked at the image of the blonde girl that was even more extraordinary than Chiyo Mihama; Rebecca Miyamoto. "B-but...that's impossible!" she flinched. "She has to be the smartest kid ever! Even Albert Einstein couldn't do that!"

Miyamoto started laughing. "I know! I was shocked too when I heard the news. I don't think I need to say this, but I'm incredibly proud of her."

"Well, you should be, but don't you think it's kind of wrong to send a girl of such young age to such a prestigious place?" Yomi argued. "What about her childhood?"

"Well, we think of it the same way, but it's what Rebecca really wanted herself. Vanessa and I never forced her to do anything, but she's just so incredibly driven."

"That sounds even stranger to me. But anyway, when is the last time you saw them?"

"Five years ago," Miyamoto said sadly. "When Rebecca was only three years old. We've stayed in contact through letters and occasional phonecalls, but I really miss them. I want to be there with her when she enrolls."

"Of course," Yomi said, giving the picture back to him.

"I'm sorry I'm bothering you with all this, but I just don't want you to think that I'm up to no good or something...," he said, slightly ashamed.

"No, it's okay. It was nice to hear all this. I trust you."

"Okay, thank you. But, the reason why I called you here is about the results of the antidote."

Yomi started to worry when he announced this. "Is there something wrong?"

"Wrong? Not exactly. It has nothing to do with your friends; the antidote worked just fine on them, although it's still unclear if there are going to be side effects," he explained.

"But...mine didn't work? Is that it?" Yomi asked with a fearful heart.

"I don't know," he answered.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Like I said, I have no idea. As a scientist, I'm truly stumped and out of answers by your results. Look, it might be easier to explain if I showed you. Come take a look through this elektron microscope."

Yomi approached the microscope and looked through the eyepiece. Miyamoto placed a slide underneath the objective lens. Yomi saw thousands of small red blood cells, and occasionally there was a bigger cell, shaped like an orb, and slightly smaller orbs that were broken and drained.

"This is Takino-san's blood. Notice the large cells. Those are the cells found in the antidote. The smaller ones are the T-virus, almost completely destroyed."

"Yeah, I see it. That's good, right?"

"Yes, it definitely is." Miyamoto took away the slide and placed another one. "This is Kagura-san's blood. What do you notice?"

"There are slightly more T-virus cells than in Tomo's case..."

"Exactly. This indicates that Kagura-san was exposed to larger doses of the T-virus than Tomo-san, probably because of the zombie bite. Don't worry though, the dose I gave her should be more than enough." Miyamoto took the slide out again and put yet another into place. "Now, this is yours."

"What?" Yomi mumbled.

In her blood, there was no trace of the antidote, nor of the T-virus, but there was something else. She saw several ellipse shaped bodies in between the red blood cells that had a distinct purple colour.

"What does this mean?" she asked.

"I'll be honest. It's something I've never seen before. But whatever it is, it appears to have destroyed both the antidote and the T-virus. To do this in such a short time, it must be a very powerful compound."

Miyamoto turned to his desk, which was completely littered with documents. "I have been searching my research records, but there was nothing that described the cells that I found in your body. I don't mean to alarm you, but I believe that, what's inside you, is some kind of new virus I've never seen or heard of before."

Horrified, Yomi looked through the microscope again, inspecting the small, purple cells. She gulped. She felt truly frightened now. There was something inside her body that even an Umbrella scientist couldn't identify. What was this, and how and where did she get it?

"Now, because I don't know what it is," he continued, "I also have no idea if this virus is harmful to your body or not. But, as much as I regret saying this," he crossed his arms and brough his eyes to the corners, "I can't help you with this."

Yomi felt defeated and plumped down on a chair. She sighed deeply and covered her face with her hands. "What am I going to do?"

"I suggest you go seek help back in the city. Maybe someone out there can determine what it is and what to do about it, but..."

"But...?"

"Maybe you can find the answers in these labs. On the other side of the laboratories are the main labs. This is where most experiments took place, and there should be plenty of data in the databases. If there is any information on your condition, it should be there," he said doubtfully.

Yomi got up from her chair. "So, how do we get there?"

"That's a small problem. I have the key to get to the elevator, but the power that energises it has run dry. We have to go to the engine room and replenish the fuel capsule before we can use it..."

"So, let's do that then!"

"But there's some other problems," he continued. "The engine room has become a breeding ground for Chimera. There's no telling how many of them there are. On top of that, the fuel needed to power the elevator is extremely volatile and sensitive. If it takes too big a shock, it will explode violently. The refueling device is right here, so that makes it quite a long walk."

"That is a problem," Yomi mused frustrated. "But, I have an idea. This is a little risky, but it will have to do. We're going back to get some of my friends. Let's say, Tomo, Sakaki and Osaka stay in the engine room and eliminate whatever Chimera they encounter. Meanwhile, I'll act as your bodyguard and cover you as you go back to the engine room with the filled capsule. How's that?"

"I suppose," he replied skeptically. "But, leaving your friends out there seems awfully dangerous."

"Don't worry. I'm sure they can handle it. If there's three of them, it shouldn't be a problem. Besides, it's only for a little while."

"Okay then, but we should go inform your friends now."

With that, Yomi and Miyamoto headed back to the resting room. Once there, Yomi explained everything except the strange virus that was found in her body. When Tomo asked why they would want to go to the main labs, Yomi made the excuse that they might find more information there, and that it seemed too important to simply skip. So it was actually not a complete lie. Tomo, Sakaki and Osaka agreed to help, and Kagura and Chiyo stayed behind. The group of five now set off, heading downstairs, to start their extremely dangerous operation. The door they had to go through first was the one close to Laboratory 1. Behind it, they noticed the sealed door to the operating room. Up ahead a small flight of stairs, there was a T-juntion in the corridor.

"The elevator is just to the left, and the engine room to the right," Miyamoto announced. "I have to retrieve the empty capsule first, so cover me as I go in. Remember that the Chimera can crawl over ceilings, and they're very good at stealth, so be on your toes always!"

Yomi, Osaka, Sakaki and Tomo nodded, albeit nervously. Slowly, Miyamoto opened the door. It was a big room, with three long rows of engines and plenty of vents and pipes hanging from the ceiling. All the machinery made a deafening noise, and the steam pumped out of the machines made the air hot and humid. There were no Chimera in direct sight. Tomo, Osaka and Sakaki stayed on their guard, their weapons raised up at all time and restlessly scanning the area, while Yomi guarded Miyamoto as he went to get the empty capsule from behind the right row. He opened up a lid of the generator and took the large object out.

"This is where we have to insert it again when we come back!" he shouted over the noise.

Yomi and Miyamoto then headed back to the door. "Be careful!" Yomi called out, and ran off.

While those two were hurrying back to the researcher's room, the three girls were now left alone in the creepy engine room. Tomo and Osaka splitted up from Sakaki, and they began their hunt. The ruckus from the engines proved to be quite inconvenient, because now they couldn't hear anything else. Sakaki constantly spun around, watching her back with her shotgun ready, while walking down the isles. Tomo had Osaka to watch her back, so she could act quickly.

"I'm gettin' awfully nervous here," Osaka said.

"I hear you," Tomo answered. "I can't believe I agreed to do this..."

They all made it to the other side of the room without any encounter. "Anything?" Sakaki shouted.

"Nada!" Tomo shouted back. "We'll check the other isle!"

"Okay!"

Tomo and Osaka walked down the left isle, but there were still no monsters, until...

"Waah," Osaka yelped.

"What? What is it?"

"Did ya hear that? Up in that vent over there!"

Tomo listened closely, and could faintly hear something scurrying through the airvent incredibly fast. Then, it disappeared. Tomo and Osaka stood perfectly still, heart beating in their troath, pointing their weapons up and attempting to pick up the sound again. Suddenly, a lid fell down to the ground behind them, making a loud, clattering noise.

On the other side of the room, Sakaki faintly heard the noise. She wanted to go see what was going on, but the same noise was then heard right behind her, and a second later, another lid fell down in front of her. Out of each opening, a Chimera fell down, and she was now locked in between two of those abominable freaks.

"An ambush!"

As gunshots sounded from where Tomo and Osaka were, Sakaki made a quick decision, turned around and dashed towards the Chimera. She rammed it with all she got, and slammed it against the wall. But she had just managed to escape when she noticed another one sitting on top of one of the engines. She raised her shotgun and fired.

"Jesus, they just keep coming," Tomo yelled, shooting another one to shreds. "Outta here! This is nuts!"

They ran back to the entrance of the room, where they met up with Sakaki again, close to a Chimera in the middle of dissolving.

"This ain't good! They're all attackin' at the same time!" Osaka said.

"I know," Sakaki panted. "We'll have to kill them all! Make every shot count!"

* * *

In the researcher's room, Miyamoto placed the capsule in the refueling device. He closed the round lid and pressed a button. The apparatus buzzed, and slowly the capsule was filled with fuel. When that was done, he opened the lid and carefully took the capsule out.

"Okay... Now, I have to make sure not to shake this thing around too much, so I can't run. One wrong move and it will explode."

"Okay, but let's get going right now. I hope they're doing alright back there..."

* * *

Back in the engine room, blood and guts were strewn all over the floor, empty shells clattered to the floor and bodies were thrown backwards in an all out shooting frenzy. It was all a matter of retaining a hail of bullets, keeping those monsters from getting close, and reloading as fast as possible. Bulletholes were struck into the steel engines, as the three gave it all they had to wipe out the horde of tough enemies. But one of them got too close, and tackled Sakaki. She held her shotgun in front of her like a shield and forced it off her, before blowing its head off from short range. When she pulled the trigger again, a click was heard, signalling her to reload.

"Tomo, cover me!" Sakaki shouted.

"Gotcha!"

After clearing the middle isle, Tomo jumped in front of Sakaki and blasted another one off the ceiling. Insect legs and wings came thwirling down.

"Hah! That's eight!" she chirped. "Lookin' good!"

She aimed at another one sprinting over the engines, but heard the dreadful click again. "Oh damn! Maybe I should've counted my shots instead..."

The Chimera shrieked loudly, and made a big jump towards her. Tomo yelped, but the beast was intercepted by another shotgun blast and was launched backwards.

"Whoa, that was close," she puffed. "Thanks, Sakaki!"

"Don't mention it," she said. "That was my ninth."

"Oh, really? I won't be beaten!" Tomo smirked, and slided some more shells into her gun.

"Actually, Ah think we got 'em all," Osaka said, dropping the empty clip from her handgun and clicking a new one in. "Phew... Man, I'm beat..."

Sakaki checked every isle, but beside the incredible mess they made, there were no monsters anymore. "Yes. It's over," she nodded.

"So, Osaka, how many did you get?" Tomo asked curiously.

"Huh? Oh, I dunno. Lost count after ten."

Tomo and Sakaki looked at her in disbelief, and at her tiny pistol in her hand. Osaka grinned and blew the smoke from her barrel, as a small snicker escaped her.

After about another minute of staying on their toes and securing the perimeter, Yomi and Miyamoto returned, the latter holding the capsule steady with both hands, trying his best not to shake it too much.

"You sure got us all in a pickle," Tomo complained. "Those things ambushed us!"

"But you're okay, right?" Yomi asked.

"Hell yeah," she laughed. "But I sure hope that whatever is in that lab is important enough after all this."

"I'll go put the capsule into place," Miyamoto said hastily.

"Yeah, okay."

Yomi turned to Tomo again. "I have a feeling that what we're going to find there is going to be very important, but it might also be something bad. To tell you the truth, I'm pretty nervous about going there, but something tells me we have to. We might even extract some more evidence, since we lost a great deal of it."

"I guess so. Well, we don't really have a choice. I'm demanding something in return for killing all those waves of Chimera, you know," Tomo said, bringing her hands to the back of her head.

"True," Yomi smiled. "After this, we're getting out of here. I promise."

"Alrighty," Tomo smiled back. "We'll make sure we're good to go, and then we skedaddle."

Just then, Miyamoto reappeared from behind the machines. "The capsule is in place now. The elevator is getting power."

"Kay, guess we'll be goin' then, eh?" said Osaka.

The group exited the engine room and headed further down the corridor. The elevator was just around he corner, but they were almost there when Miyamoto suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a minute," he said. "I forgot something in my room. I have to go and get it."

"What did you forget?" Yomi asked curiously.

"You'll see. It should prove to be useful in the lab."

"Oh, well in that case, we'll come with you!"

"No, you can go on ahead. I don't want to slow you down. I'll catch up with you soon," he said in an assuring manner.

"Ehm, okay, but, at least take this with you in case something should happen."

Yomi walked forward and pushed the Magnum in his hand. "It's quite heavy, but it should kill most monsters with just one hit."

"B-but, what about you?"

"Don't worry about it. We're pretty well armed here."

"I see," he smiled. "Thank you. I'll give it back when I return. See you later."

"Yeah, and watch yourself."

With that, Miyamoto ran off, heading for his room. And then, Sakaki pushed the button to the elevator, opening the door and letting them in. With frightened hearts, the four girls descended even deeper, into the bowels of the laboratories.

The elevator brought them to a short hook shaped corridor. Pipes fixed to the walls emitted plumes of steam, and behind the corner was a mechanical door, illuminated with a bright neon light on the ceiling. With one push of a button, the door slided upwards. What they found there thwarted their imagination.

"Oh my..., is this it?" Yomi said.

In the center of the big laboratory were several collumns of huge tubes filled with bubbling liquid, with most of them holding some kind of strange creature with no real form or shape. They all just looked like a bunch of organic blobs clotted together. Thick cables ran across the stone floor, connecting the tubes with the many computers installed against the walls. The sounds of beeping and other cybernoises were coming from all over the place; the computers banging on all cilinders to keep those creatures alive. But the icing on the cake could be found way in the back, in a big secluded tube against the wall, with even more sophisticated equipment to the left and right of it. Reluctantly, Yomi, Tomo, Osaka and Sakaki approached it.

"What the hell is this thing?" Yomi gasped.

"Hey, that's...," Tomo exclaimed.

"Tomo-chan, you were right!" said Osaka.

Inside the large glass tube, filled with the same liquid, was a big humanoid monster, much like the one Tomo, Osaka and Kagura faced in the underground. But it definitely wasn't the same one. It had white/gray skin, relatively clean over most of its body, save for the red and purple veins running over its bald head, arms and legs. No ulcers like the other one. On its left upper leg was a nasty swelling; almost like large red and blue boils, and just like the first one, its heart and aorta protruded out of its chest. The mouth was lipless, so the teeth were always bare, and the eyes were completey white. Starting from its right shoulder, the right arm was heavily mutated; it had a much darker colour and rougher skin, almost exoskeleton like. While the left hand was untouched, its right hand was huge, but with only four fingers, all ending in long claws. It was about as big as the earlier prototype, but it had an upright position, in contrast with the prototype's hunch. It did look like this one was more advanced than the previous, but it wasn't quite completed yet. The large, throbbing heart still seemed like a critical weakspot. The monster appeared to be dormant, but it was obviously alive, as it breathed and its heart was beating. It was probably kept comatose by the machines connected to it with needles and wires.

"It's one of those things that attacked us in the mines," Tomo said. "I knew there were more of them!"

"What are we going to do with it?" Sakaki asked. "We can't just leave it like it is!"

"I know," Yomi answered. "Maybe there's a way to shut it down using the computers here."

Yomi walked up to the computer to left of the tube and looked around on the screen. After carefully fidgetting around with the keys, she came across a bunch of options. One of them read : _T-002 Tyrant : emergency shutdown mode._

"Tyrant? Is that what this thing is called?" she mused.

She chose that options with a scared heart; there was no telling what would happen now. But on the screen appeared, in red letters : _Operation denied! T-002 Tyrant releasing procedure is already set in motion. Sequence cannot be aborted._

"What?"

"Huh? What's wrong, Yomi?" Tomo asked suspiciously.

"S...somebody was ahead of us. The Tyrant is going to be released soon!"

"Say what?" Tomo yelled.

"Yomi, isn't there anything we can do?" Sakaki pleaded. "Please try!"

Yomi returned to the operations menu and looked for any other options that could be helpful. Down below in the list, it said : _release procedure options._ She tried than one, and one of the options said : _delay procedure._

"Okay, I'll try to delay it," she mumbled rushed.

_Denied!_

"Son of a bitch!" Yomi shouted. "It doesn't work! It must be protected or something!"

"Well, then we should get the hell outta here! I don't want to be here when it wakes up!" Tomo reasoned.

"Okay, let's go then."

They were just about to flee, when a familiar voice halted them.

"You're not going anywhere, I'm afraid..."

The girls turned their heads, and from behind a collumn of tubes, a certain blonde, sunglasses wearing man appeared, holding a handgun.

"Wesker!" Yomi, Osaka and Tomo exclaimed.

Wesker chuckled a little and quickly pointed his gun towards them, much to their shock.

"As I said," he continued, "you're not going anywhere, because I just so happen to have locked the door after you marched in. Welcome to my playground, girls."

"Wesker...what are you...," Yomi rambled confused.

Tomo growled angrily and raised her riot gun at him. "I knew it! You slimy traitor!" she yelled furiously.

Wesker had a big smirk on his face and he adjusted his sunglasses. "Hahaha, don't make me laugh. The only reason why you could kill all those zombies is because you convinced yourself they were not human anymore. You don't have the guts to shoot me!"

Tomo's hands started shaking and her finger twitched on the trigger. "D...don't you dare mock me," she stammered, her hands and forehead getting sweaty.

"Besides, if you kill me now, what hope do you have left to prevent the Tyrant from escaping? Put the gun down, Tomo."

Tomo swallowed her pride and decided to obey. Slowly and hesitantly, she lowered her assault shotgun, but kept a firm grip on it.

"That's much better. You can be a good girl after all," he snickered.

"Wh-what do you want from us?" Yomi stuttered nervously.

"I'll answer that in a moment, but first... I need you to come over here, Yomi."

Yomi was nailed to the ground and her knees shook in fear of the gun aimed right at her face. Reluctantly, she took a step forward.

"Don't do it, Yomi!" Tomo said.

"Shut up, you, or I'll put a bullet through your brains!" he snarled at her. "Get moving, or I will come get you myself, and that won't be a pretty sight."

Yomi complied to Wesker's threats and slowly walked towards him. When she was right in front of him, she looked up at him stared him in the eyes behind the sunglasses.

"Good girl. Now then..."

Without a warning, Wesker flipped Yomi around and caught her in a solid headlock with his right arm, while his left arm pressed the barrel of the pistol against her head. Yomi gasped for air and tried to struggle free, but was no match for Wesker's brutal strength.

"Yomi!" Tomo cried out loud. "You bastard, let her go!"

"Haha, I can't believe this was all so easy! How gullible you are!" he laughed with a wide smile.

"Wesker... We trusted you...," Osaka uttered disappointed. "Ah didn't want ta believe ya were such a bad guy after you helped us an' all."

"Here's an important life lesson, Ayumu. Never trust total strangers. They might have some kind of diabolical plan, hahaha!"

Osaka was taken aback, not by that statement, but by the fact that he managed to remember her real name. Not even her friends could remember it, and she only told him once.

"Well, that is to say, it would have been a life lesson. It doesn't matter anymore, since all of your lives will end here."

The girls' eyes flung open in shock. Yomi uttered something unintelligable.

"Huh? What's that, my dear?"

"Wh...why?" she gasped.

Wesker smirked and tightened his lock on Yomi's neck, causing her to make a choking sound.

"Why? Well, I'll explain everything, if that is your last will. I used to be a scientist for Umbrella."

"What?" Tomo asked puzzled. "You?"

"That's right. More then 20 years ago, I was taken under James Marcus' wings at the Management Training Facility, not too far from here. There, I met my colleague and accomplice, William Birkin. We became his best apprentices, and we were the only people he trusted. Isn't that nice, when somebody places his complete trust in you?" he snickered.

"But after that, we were both transferred here, to these very laboratories, where we continued to work on the T-virus, while Marcus conducted research on his own. It took us a tiresome 13 years to develop the virus, and after we finally reached the third stage..., Spencer ordered us to have Marcus assassinated and to steal his research. So we did. The poor fool never even saw us coming."

"So it's true," said Sakaki. "Marcus was murdered, and it was you who did it!"

"It was Spencer's wish. I simply complied."

"But still, don't you have any conscience? How could you kill someone over nothing but a stupid virus!" she argued.

"A stupid virus...," he laughed. "My dear Yuriko, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about, but I'll leave you in your ignorance.

Sakaki remained silent for a while and stared at him in awe. "How...how do you know my name? I never told you."

"I know all of your full names. Those are the priviliges of being a captain of S.T.A.R.S, the special forces of the RPD."

"Bullshit!" Tomo shouted. "How can you be a police captain after doing such horrible things?"

"That is not for you to know, but let's just say, the RPD are a bunch of dumb, ignorant sewer rats. I joined S.T.A.R.S a few years ago and made it to captain, and acted as a double agent for Umbrella. This way, Umbrella had access to all knowledge about all police investigations that could be a threat to them. And on top of that, by being a captain, I could bend the special forces in such ways that would be benificial to Umbrella."

"But you said you _used to be_ part of Umbrella," Tomo inquired.

"Correct. After Birkin discovered the G-virus in Lisa Trevor's body, I became suspicious about Spencer's intentions."

"Wait, what?" Tomo interrupted. "G-virus? Lisa Trevor? It was you who did that to that poor girl?"

"Yes. Me and William."

"You UNBELIEVABLE MONSTER!" she screamed. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"Tomo...please, calm down...," Yomi uttered softly. "Wesker... What is this...G-virus?"

"The G-virus is a much more powerful strain on the Progenitor virus which we discovered after administering that virus and the NE-Alpha parasite to that girl you obviously care so much about. Normally, the parasite would cause the subject to die within twenty minutes, but Lisa, who already reacted positive to the Progenitor virus, simply absorbed it, and not long afterwards, we found the early stages of what we called the Gene Virus, or G-virus. Of course, this caused her to become the abomination she is now, and she even killed several of our researchers by ripping their faces off back then. Because of that, and since she was no use to us anymore, we disposed of her, but she apparently survived. That bitch is more resilient than a cockroach, I tell you."

"You heartless, fucking asshole...," Tomo snarled. "All she wanted was her to see her parents, and you killed them, didn't you?"

"Her mother, Jessica, reacted negatively to the first administration of Progenitor and died shortly after. We disposed of her in the crypts beneath the mansion. As for George, he was just someone we had to get rid of, but he did become somewhat useful to us after that, as you probably noticed already, hehe."

Tears rolled over Tomo's cheeks as she heard all this and she clenched her teeth tightly. "I'll kill you...," she mumbled. "I'll make you pay for this!"

"Wh...where is that G-virus...," Yomi inquired between gasps of air.

"Not here, I'm afraid. My friend Birkin is laying the final hand on it as we speak. Maybe he has already finished it by now, but he's not here."

"Look at what you've done. You're pretty good at prolonging your lives, sidetracking like this. You must be wondering why I helped you up until now, leaving you those weapons and all. When the accidental outbreak occured here, Spencer ran away like the coward he is. I took that as a chance to betray him and to go my own way. After the dust rose, I concealed myself here to continue work on my next masterpiece. Finally, after so many years of hard work, I was able to create it; The Ultimate Bio-Weapon, Tyrant! The very Tyrant you're looking at!"

Wesker turned to the giant mutant in the tube and tightened his grip on Yomi again.

"Look at it! Isn't it beautiful? You do understand that I'm excited, don't you? My life long ambition is finally as good as complete! The most powerful creature this world has ever seen, and I created it!"

"I...it's pathetic... Nothing but a freak of nature...," Yomi gasped angrily.

"Hahaha! You'll see how pathetic it is. You're going to get to know eachother better soon anyway. You know what the best thing is? I owe this magnificent creature all to you, girls."

"Huh?" said Osaka. "Whaddaya mean?"

"What happened today went against my initial plans. Sooner or later, S.T.A.R.S would have ended up in this mansion to investigate, because of the unrest of the public after the sightings of monsters in the forest. This had to be done, for they had to be pitted against the countless B.O.W's infesting the manor. This would all be recorded as combat data by small, hidden camera's, the data I needed to program the Tyrant, to make it into the perfect killing machine. I arrived here around midnight for the final preparations, because it couldn't have been long before I had to lead them in. But, much to my surprise, you kids suddenly showed up before them, apparently stranded here after being attacked during a midnight walk in the forest. You fools."

Tomo's eyes widened, her gaze turned to the floor and she clenched her fists.

"At first, I intended to dispose of you to make way for the real deal, but when I saw you succesfully killing the first zombie, I decided to put you to the test. I left weapons and notes for you to find, and occasionally showed up in front of you, just so I could get to know you better in person. Somehow, I was sure that you wouldn't last another 30 minutes, even with all the equipment, but you all managed to survive time and time again. I was amazed, and delighted. Your teamwork and friendship pulled you through, and even after you all got infected with the T-virus, you managed to find a cure. I commend you."

"So, you helped us not because you were worried about us, but because it was in your best interest to keep us alive," Sakaki concluded. "That's so low..."

"You hit the nail right on the head, miss Yuriko," he grinned. "But of course, I had to manage to get you here somehow. Luckily, I had some help from a certain doctor I'm sure you know."

"What?" Tomo gasped in disbelief. "Don't tell me... Miyamoto was on your side?"

"More or less. But don't go and hate the poor man," he laughed menacingly. "I mean, a man can to far lengths when his loving family is at stake."

"You...you treathened to harm his wife and daughter if he didn't do what you told him to, is that it?" Sakaki growled. "I normally never say this, but...you're a dirty rat!"

"Yeah!" Tomo yelled. "You tell him, Sakaki!"

"Why, thank you. But, you don't think I would've harmed poor little Rebecca, do you?" he chuckled in an evil tone, getting vicious glares from Tomo, Sakaki, and Osaka in return. "I just intimidated him a little, as an insurance that he would lead you all here. I can't have you all blabbermouthing all over town, now can I?"

And now, that time has come! You should be proud that you all managed to get here in one piece. But the collection of combat data was a great success, and therefore, I have no more use for any of you. This is the end of the line, so I'll leave you with your new friend. You're all going to die here, now!" he laughed in a vile tone, and pressed the drainage button on the keyboard. Slowly, the liquid was drained out of the tube, and the needles in the Tyrant's body disconnected.

"No, stop! You can't do this!" Sakaki shouted.

Wesker slowly turned his head at this and smirked evily. "Oh no? Watch this."

Wesker quickly aimed his pistol at Sakaki and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck her below the left shoulder. Sakaki yelped, all her senses went numb, and she fell to the floor.

"SAKAKI! NO!" Tomo screamed.

"Ah...oh...oh no!" Osaka muttered.

Sakaki wasn't moving anymore. A small stream of blood ran out of her mouth as she layed on her stomach, and blood started pooling underneath her.

Tomo rapidly snapped her head at Wesker. "You...You BASTARD!" she yelled with tears in her eyes.

"Hehehe... AHAHAHAHA! Did you see that? I proved her wrong, didn't I? But don't worry, she got the easy way out. The rest of you will die a much more miserable death, so you should be happy for her."

Suddenly, a faint sound of tapping was heard from inside the tube. The Tyrant started moving, and its claws gently ticked against the glass wall.

"There! It's awake! My Tyrant! The Ultimate Biological Weapon! Come! Free yourself from your coccoon and destroy your enemies!" Wesker cheered.

Yomi varried her gaze from Sakaki laying on the floor to the Tyrant now pressing its hand against the tube. Wesker's arm was still tightly locked around her troath, which made it hard to talk, or even breathe. The Tyrant's hand slided down, and it then bashed it into the glass, making it crack slightly. Then, it pulled its large claw back, and with one efficient swipe shattered the glass completely. Slowly, it stepped out of the broken tube. Grunting softly, it eerily glared over all the people surrounding it, and finally let out a loud growl and stretched its body.

"It...it's perfect," Wesker said. "It's even better than I could have ever imagined it! Look at that strength, that vigour, that elegance! All the qualities sought in a perfect killing machine, the Tyrant possesses them! Show them, my child! Show them what a true biological nightmare is!" he shouted triumphantly.

Tomo and Osaka took a few steps back, intimidated by the lumbering giant growling and flexing its muscles. This one definitely looked alot more dangerous and aggressive than the prototype Tyrant they fought a while back. It didn't have an open back, and its movements weren't as twitchy.

Wesker suddenly loosened his grip on Yomi. As Yomi gasped for air, Wesker grabbed her by the shoulder.

"And as an appitizer, you can start with her!" he laughed.

With that, he pushed the helpless Yomi away. She tried to stop in her tracks, but bumped into the monster. Yomi staggered backwards frightened as it turned to her, but Wesker kicked her in the back, causing her to fall over. As Yomi writhed in pain, she tried to scurry back to her feet, but the Tyrant grabbed her by the troath and effortlesly lifted her up.

"Yomi! Hang on!" Tomo panicked, and raised her riot gun, ready to fire. Osaka did the same with her handgun.

But the Tyrant turned towards them, using Yomi as a meatshield for potential gunfire.

"Oh no..."

"Haha, that's it! Show them! Kill their friend right in front of their eyes! Do it!" Wesker cheered it on from the back.

Yomi struggled and kicked in vain, holding on to the Tyrant's wrist with both hands. The Tyrant pulled back its claw and growled. Something escaped from Yomi's lips, although barely hearable.

"H...help me..."

In one powerful movement, the Tyrant thrusted its claw forwards.

Tomo and Osaka were dumbstruck as they saw the claws protruding out of Yomi's back and her blood splattered onto their faces. They just stared with widened eyes as the red liquid then seeped richly onto the floor, forming a shallow, spreading pool. As the Tyrant released its grip on Yomi's throat, as she hung there, impaled on the giant claws, squirming and twitching, as her glasses fell to the floor and cracked, as she emitted gurgling sounds and blood shot out of her mouth and nose, as the monster slowly raised its arm and she sank deeper and deeper into the claws lodged in her stomach. As slowly, Yomi's movements started to fade away, she ceased to make any sounds, her eyes, wide open and horrified, turned lifeless. As Yomi's life came to an end, Tomo fell to her knees and her eyes started glittering with tears. Her lower lip trembling and her hands losing grip of her weapon, something inside her broke into a million pieces. In just a fraction of a second, she saw her whole world fall apart.

"YOMI...!"

The Tyrant grunted victoriously, and with a quick swipe, threw Yomi's motionless body across the room. She splatted against the wall, leaving a large bloodstain behind, and tumbled to the floor, where she continued to bleed a large puddle of crimson.

"That's another down, and four more to go," Wesker lisped. He looked at Tomo, who was on her hands and knees, her head hung low. Tears dripping from her face and onto the floor, creating small, dark circles. Utterly defeated, too afraid to look at Yomi's corpse, she stayed in that position without moving. Osaka was too shocked to say anything, and stood there, mouth agape, unable to grasp what just happened. It was just like when she thought Kagura was dead; she simply couldn't wrap her mind around it. She didn't even bother to wipe off the blood on her face.

"Too bad, but you'll be joining her soon. And I'm sure Tyrant will also pay a visit to your two absent friends," Wesker smirked. "I will leave you alone to play now."

Slowly, Tomo brought her fingers to her face while still staying in the same position. She looked at Yomi's blood now on her fingertips and running down to her palm. She clenched her fist, smearing the blood all over her hand.

"You..."

Wesker stopped in his tracks and saw Tomo slowly raising her head. A terrifying expression was on her face. Her eyebrows were frowned to the extreme, so much that her whole forehead wrinkled. And her eyes, they were burning with such ferocity and rage that they could scare even a demon away, but with tears still rushing out of them. She grabbed her Riot Gun and stood to her feet.

"You...are...NOT getting away with this... You're not... I'm going to kill you... I'm going to fucking murder you."

"Tomo-chan...," Osaka mumbled.

Wesker turned to her and removed his sunglasses, revealing his blue eyes and his puzzled expression.

"You, your bastard child over there, Umbrella... What you did to Lisa, to Miyamoto and his family, to Sakaki, ...to Yomi..., to everyone... Unforgivable... I'm going to destroy you all."

"Heh..."

"I'M GONNA TEAR YOU ALL TO FUCKING PIECES!"

* * *

Wata : Two more chapters to go. The next one will be shorter, and the final one is as good as done.

Don't forget to submit a review, wether it is small or long. I'd greatly appreciate it.

And with that, I leave you. See you soon!


	27. Broken

_Ladies and Gentlemen_

_Boys And Girls_

_Azumanga Daioh and Resident Evil fans_

_It's done!_

* * *

Chapter 27 : Broken

Blood dripped from the shotgun, clenched into Tomo's hands with an iron grip. Her heart pumped vigorously, thrusting great amounts of adrenaline through her body. Her eyes showcased a profound glitter, wether it was because of the tears, or the raging inferno, fueled by the rage. The rage by the sight of the blood spreading, trailing across the floor, originating from the gored body of her best friend in the corner. The laboratory was reduced to a gruesome abattoir, and the fearsome butcher was looming over it with its stained knives.

"You're going to...tear me to pieces?" Wesker said with a small giggle. "You? A teenage high school girl, who just left her mommy's side? I would like to see you try."

"Shut your mouth!" she screamed enraged. "I'll kill you!"

Right then, Tomo tilted her Riot gun to the side, aimed at Wesker, and fired.

Wesker didn't know what hit him when the hail from the shell zoomed past the Tyrant and nailed him in the left leg. As his blood splattered on the wall behind him and he fell over by the shock, he realised that Tomo was dead serious. By all means, he had to get out of there. Pulling himself up, he grunted and sneered in pain.

"Aaargh... You...you filthy CUNT! You will pay for this!" he cried out, dragging himself away from the scene. "Tyrant! Rip that slut in two!"

While the injured Wesker fled, the Tyrant turned to Tomo, flexing its muscles again, swinging its claws around.

"You're lucky I missed, asshole!" Tomo yelled. "I'll finish you next time!"

"There's not going to be a next time, Tomo! You messed up your only chance. Ahahaha!"

With that, Wesker disappeared. Tomo wasn't sure how he got away, but he didn't use the door. She wouldn't be surprised if he had some kind of hidden passage in this room. She wanted to go after him, but there was a big obstacle in her way now, and it was slowly taking steps towards her.

"Son of a bitch...," she cussed.

"T-Tomo-chan, whadda we do?" Osaka asked scared.

"Go check on Sakaki, hurry!"

"Ah, okay!"

Osaka quickly ran up to Sakaki, who was face down on the floor. She turned her over, revealing a small, hemorrhaging hole below her shoulder. Osaka brought her hand under Sakaki's nose.

"Sh...she's still breathin'! She's still alive!"

"Good. Now, I'll grab this thing's attention and find a way to unlock the door. Then, you get her out of here and go back to Kagura and Chiyo."

"What? B-but, what about you?"

"Just do it!" Tomo yelled. "Please, don't worry about me. Just make sure Sakaki is safe."

"Tomo-chan..., You're..."

"I'm taking this thing down myself, even if it kills me..."

When the Tyrant was just 2 feet away from her, she shot it in the heart. It flinched, and she used this time to get behind it, passing it from the side of its normal arm. While behind it, she shot it again, in the back, to make sure it would come after her. Then, she sprinted all the way to the back, to the console. Meanwhile, Osaka threw the unconscious Sakaki's arm around her neck and tried to lift her up. She wasn't that strong, so it was quite a struggle for her. Clumsily, she walked to the door.

Tomo looked around on the screen, the footsteps behind her innerving her. After a few buttons, she finally managed to do it. A click sound came from the door and it immediately opened.

"Tomo, look out!" Osaka shouted.

Tomo reacted quickly enough to dodge the Tyrant, as it dashed at her and slammed into the console. The machine now completely wasted, it emmited smoke and sparks of electricity. Tomo ran back a bit and faced it.

"Tomo! Tomo! Let's go! C'mon!" Osaka pleaded. "Don't do this!"

But Tomo just looked at her with a stringent look in her eyes and shook her head. "Go! Get outta here!"

Osaka suddenly understood what she wanted to do. She was angry, and sad. Right now, her point wasn't just to kill the Tyrant. What she wanted was revenge; revenge for what that monster did to poor Yomi. That ferocious bloodlust in her eyes. She had seen her angry in the past few hours, but not like this. Something about Tomo seemed different. She had to do this. She needed this, and she wasn't going to take this away from her. With tears in her eyes, Osaka called out to her one more time before she left.

"Ya...ya better come back alive, ya hear me?"

As Osaka ran off and the door closed, Tomo shut her eyes and nodded. "Yeah... I may be an idiot, but I won't die today... I promise that to you, Yomi..."

The steady thumps filling the room matched Tomo's heartbeat. Slowly coming closer and closer, Tomo found herself in some kind of trance. She felt like she was standing beside herself, like she heard or felt nothing other than the the heavy footsteps of the Tyrant. Sweat broke out of her pores and her breathing and heartbeat suddenly rose, just like the heavy thuds. Tomo snapped out of it after a tremendous force collided with her body. With a yelp, she was tossed backwards and slided over the floor. Trying to quickly pull herself together, she held her head, which hurt like hell.

"Wh...what was that?" she gasped.

In her confusion, she suddenly realised that she was now kneeling next to the still body of her friend, and in the blood pooled on the floor. As all her clothes were now drenched with the warm, crimson fluid, her vision started dancing around wildly, shuddering and rocking. This drugged and drunk sensation made her feel like she was about to pass out.

"What's happening...? Yomi?"

Yomi's hollow and lifeless eyes stared right back at her. Almost reluctantly, all of Tomo's attention turned to the body of Yomi, instead of the threatening Tyrant closing in on her.

_Yomi... how could you leave me like this...? We promised, didn't we? That we would leave this place together. We were so close, but... Why? Why did you have to die? Why, why, WHY?_

Suddenly, something snapped inside her. A jolt went through her body, and she screamed from the top of her lungs.

"GOD DAMMIIIIIIIT!"

In pure rage, Tomo fired her shotgun, again and again, roaring like a maniac in between the shots. With every blast, the Tyrant flinched and growled, as the hail punched hundreds of small holes in its body.

"You sonnovabitch! I'll kill you!"

When her shotgun was empty, the Tyrant lunged forward like nothing ever happened and swung its claw at her. Miraculously, Tomo managed to dodge it, but its fist that followed right after didn't miss its target. A blow to the stomach launched her to the other corner of the room, and she landed face down on the floor. The energy that suddenly filled her body a few seconds ago was now gone. She didn't know what just happened to her, but she seemed to be back to normal now. Exhausted and coughing, gasping for air, she tried to stand up again, but she could only flip herself on her back. She was all out of juice; nothing she could do about it. She now regretted the choice she made, and she was afraid that this was it for her.

"No... I can't die here..."

The Tyrant, that was towering over her, grabbed her by the troath and lifted her up effortlessly. The shotgun was on the floor, and her dagger was broken. There was nothing she could do now. She looked into its cold, snow-white marble eyes, as its hand squeezed the air out of her. Any moment from now, she would suffer the same fate as Yomi; impaled by the terrible monster's daggers. As she slowly faded away by her injuries, the energy loss and the strangulation, her arms fell to her sides as she hung there helpless.

"I'm sorry..."

Her hand accidentally brushed by her trouser pocket. She felt something there. After feeling again, she felt it was something hard. At that point, she remembered. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled it out. As swift as she possibly could, she stabbed the pocket knife into the Tyrant's wrist. In a reflex, the Tyrant yelped and loosened its grip on Tomo's troath. Without letting go of the knife, Tomo fell down. This was the only chance she had left. She ran up to the beast while its guard was down, and penetrated its heart with the blade. Without hesitating, she cut open the thick, tough membrane as far as she could. The Tyrant howled, as extreme amounts of blood squirted out of the deep and wide gash. After struggling on its feet for several seconds, painting the room red, the mutant giant collapsed backwards. It stopped moving and its heart stopped beating mere seconds later. Tomo fell down on her left knee, reaching for her neck and sputtering frantically.

"I did it..."

* * *

Step by step, Osaka attempted to drag the still unconscious Sakaki up the stairs with trembling, tired legs. She puffed in exhaustion, feeling the weak but steady heartbeat of the injured girl on her back. She flexed her muscles to rise another step, but her foot slipped on the wet stairs as she tried to push off. She lost her balance and tumbled forward. When she tried to break her fall, her lower arm and knee collided with the concrete, hard. A sharp pain went through her wounded limbs and she stayed down.

"Ouch..." she muttered.

She became aware that her arm was bleeding, and this sore knee was not something she needed now. The fact that Sakaki was now on top of her made it no easier.

"Darn it... It hurts..."

She held on tight to Sakaki with her good arm and attempted to push herself up with the other, but she collapsed again anyway. She was at her limit. Before she even realised it, she was crying softly.

"I failed. Why? Why can't I do this simple, stupid thing while Tomo-chan is fightin'? Am I really that useless?"

Osaka clenched her fist and bit her teeth.

"No way! I'm too close. I'm gonna make it, even if I have ta get there on mah hands 'n feet! I hafta do it, for Sakaki-san, for Tomo-chan an'...for Yomi-san too."

Osaka reached out her arm and grabbed the edge of the step and, while supporting herself with her legs, slowly pulled herself in. The pain was harsh, but she bit through it. Ever so slowly, she crawled up with all her might.

And she was almost there, when the tacking behind her made it evident that something was following her. Osaka snapped her head sideways and saw behind her a Chimera hanging from the ceiling. Its large maw with human teeth spread wide open, it shrieked maliciously.

"Oh no!"

Osaka reached for the gun by her belt but in just a flash, the monster was looming over her. In panic, she saw no other option but to push Sakaki off her and kill it quickly from point blank range. Sakaki rolled to the side and Osaka grabbed her handgun and fired a few rounds. The bullets did hit, but the Chimera didn't seem to care. The scythe like arms came down on her and she shielded herself with her arms.

*Bang*

The loud blast bounced off the walls with an echo and the dastardly creature was flung backwards. It landed at the bottom of the stairs with a gruesome splat. Osaka breathed a sigh of relief and turned around.

"Kagura!"

"Yo," she grinned. "Looks like I was just in time, huh?"

Kagura stood at the top of the stairs with the shiny Magnum in her hand. Right behind her was Chiyo.

"Yeah, thanks..."

"Huh? Sakaki! What the Hell happened to her?" she exclaimed.

"She's still alive, just out cold. She got shot by Wesker," she explained with a gloomy face.

"What did you say?"

"And...what's worse...," Osaka stuttered, tears appearing in her eyes.

"Wh...what happened?" Chiyo inquired suspiciously. "Where's Tomo-chan and Yomi-san?"

"W-well... It's... Y-Yomi-san, she's..."

* * *

Tomo sat on her knees, nearly her whole body covered in blood. Just a few feet away from her was the massacred body of the Ultimate Bio Weapon. The walls, the floor, the equipment, monitors and tubes, everything in the laboratory was drenched in blood. The carnage was enough to make any person sick in the stomach. Yet, in this bloodbath, Tomo sat, fixated on one thing and one thing only. The tears that flowed steadily off her face hit the floor but were completely unnoticable. Her hands gripped tightly her pain ridden legs, but that pain, nor all the physical pain she had combined was nothing compared to the raw agony of her completely shattered heart. The more she looked at the torn body of her best friend the more the pain escalated, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. The gaping holes in her torso, those lifeless eyes, her face, which felt cold; even taking revenge against everyone responsible for this could not soothe this absolutely nightmarish image of her friend. Right there and then, Tomo no longer cared, about anything, not even what would happen to the entire world.

Tomo reached out for Yomi's still hand and grabbed it tightly. She was horrified by the coldness, but didn't let go. For the longest time, there was absolute silence. Tomo didn't say a single word.

Tears kept flowing and gentle sobs escaped, as she finally whimpered, "Yomi... I'm so sorry."

She collapsed onto her body and embraced her tightly, crying all the tears she could cry, gripping her bloodsoaked shirt with her shocking hands and biting her own lip to the point of bleeding. Finally, after a few long minutes, she raised her head and brought it towards Yomi's. Ever so gently, she planted a small kiss on her forehead.

"I'll never forget you..."

With her shivering fingers, she slowly slid her eyelids shut, so she could sleep in peace, forever.

* * *

Sakaki's chest heaved up and down calmly as she layed on the bed. She was unconscious, but the bulletwound didn't seem to be fatal. However, it was still a nasty wound, and it could turn out really bad if left untreated.

"Her body's weakened. She needs to go to the hospital," Kagura stated in a lowered voice.

The news of Yomi's death struck her hard, and she had to fight to keep her tears back. However, Kagura understood that there was not much time to mourn right now. The situation was critical, and if they didn't find a way out of there quickly, more people could die. And it was likely that Sakaki, who suffered so many wounds already, could be next. It was harsh, and she knew that, but that was reality.

Against the wall, Osaka and Chiyo sat. Chiyo was crying her heart out, while Osaka had her arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. Kagura looked over her shoulder and clenched her fist in frustration.

"Ehm...Kagura...," Osaka suddenly spoke up.

"Yes?"

"I've been wonderin', but... How did ya get yer gun back?"

"Ah, this? I thought it was a little weird, but I found it on the floor just outside the door. Why?"

"B'cause we gave that gun to Miyamoto-san and, well... I haven't seen 'em since..."

"Miyamoto-san?" Kagura pondered.

"Yeah, ya see, he... Him an' Wesker-"

"What?"

"But it wasn't his fault!" Osaka said hastily. "He was bein' used. I'm kinda worried about him..."

"... Alright. I'll go look for him. And I'll try to find Tomo too. You and Chiyo stay here. I'll be right back."

"Okay."

When Kagura arrived in the corridor where Miyamoto's room was, she immediately noticed something was off. The door to his hideout was open. This was strange because he always kept the door locked in case of a monster attack. Also, it was completely silent in there.

_Maybe he isn't here._

She decided to investigate anyway, and kept her gun ready just in case. Carefully, she pulled open the door far enough for her to walk through. It was relatively dark inside, and now she could hear the faint sound of dripping liquid. She took a deep breath and slowly walked in. She looked around and noticed that the faucet against the wall was leaking, hence the dripping sounds. But after paying attention more closely, she noticed something weird. The sounds didn't match the actual dripping. Between every drop that fell, she heard another one. Kagura tightened the grip on her Magnum as her heart started to beat faster and faster. She started walking, again feeling the same fear she felt as when she was in the dark corridors of the mansion. When she turned the corner, she saw something that she didn't want to see. Blood, lots of it, running across the floor. Kagura started to fear the worst.

_Don't tell me!_

Cautiously, she peeked behind the corner, and it turned out that what she was fearing was true. Horrified, she looked away quickly.

"Oh no! This can't be happening..."

On his disordered desk, Miyamoto's mauled body lay slumped, one arm hanging down with blood dripping from his fingers. He had clawmarks on his torso and his head was missing. It looked like it had been cut off with one quick swipe, almost like it was done with a very sharp sword. The blood that had gushed out was spilled all over his desk and the floor. Kagura walked in closer to the grissly murder scene, wondering what could have done this.

_A Hunter?_

But something about it wasn't right. Miyamoto was sitting in his chair, faced towards his desk, and the body showed no sign of struggle. So whatever killed him, Miyamoto didn't notice it at all, and it happened in an instant. And there was something else. There was no trace of his head! If a Hunter did this, his head should have been laying around somewhere, but it wasn't. Besides, it was cut off too cleanly for the Hunter's large claws. There were also bloodprints on the wall, leading to the vent, which appeared to be smashed open from the outside. The bloodprints obviously had several fingers or toes, at least four, so it couldn't have been a Chimera either.

"Shit! What did this?" she cussed.

Kagura decided to investigate the desk. She saw something she didn't see before; a pen lying on the floor right beneath Miyamoto's hand, and a piece of paper on the desk right in front of him. It was obvious that he was writing something, but the letter was soaked and completely unreadable. There was a framed picture on the desk of a woman and a little girl, with a small splatter on it. She picked it up and looked at it. The first thing she noticed was that the little girl looked very peculiar. She was cute and all, but the look in her eyes was a little scary. Unlike most little girls her age, she didn't smile, but looked angry instead.

_His wife and daughter?_

Also laying on the desk was a folder containing many letters. All of them were from Vanessa and Rebecca, and there were also copies of letters that Nobuo Miyamoto himself wrote. They must have been very important to him. As much as Kagura wanted to read them, she realised there was no time. She didn't know why, but she wanted to hold onto them. Perhaps if one day, she would run into his family, she could give these to them.

Kagura felt sad. She really wished that he could have escaped together with them. He helped her and the others greatly after all. She felt guilty for not trusting him. She wasn't sure what happened, but she somehow knew that he was not at fault for what happened. It must have been Wesker after all, that bastard. Kagura bowed her head towards Miyamoto's dead body, clenched her fist tightly and then left to look for Tomo.

"You were a good man, Miyamoto-san. Thank you so much..."

Kagura made it back to the square corridor, and after closing the door behind her, let out a heavy sigh. She still felt a little weak, and her arm still hurt like hell, but she was no longer afraid of being infected. She leaned against the wall to catch her breath and looked down to the floor. Her problem was that she wasn't sure what to think anymore. She had seen so many horrible things overnight, and they just kept coming. She felt like a wreck. She just heard Yomi died, Sakaki was badly wounded, she just witnessed the corpse of a father of a young girl, and on top of that she still had Tomo to worry about. Everything just piled up so quickly that it seemed as if she couldn't keep up with everything. What she really wanted to do was cry her eyes out, but there was no time, and that stressed her out even more, making her want to cry even more. It was a vicious circle in which she could only stay strong. For all she knew, she could be one of the only ones left to escape.

"Fuck..." she said under her breath. "God fucking dammit!"

Kagura banged her fist against the steel door out of frustration several times.

"Dammit! Dammit!"

"What are you so angry about?"

Kagura snapped her head to the left to the voice coming from the end of the corridor. In front of the rotating fan, which cast a constantly moving shadow on the floor, she saw a figure standing there.

"Tomo!" she shouted.

Tomo was completely drenched in blood, from the red lines running across her face to her shoes which were soaked. Her eyes were also red, so Kagura could tell that she cried a lot. She had an uncharacteristically apathetic look on her face.

"Tomo, you're okay! I'm so glad."

"Yeah," she said bluntly, a little angrily even.

"What about Yomi, is she-"

Before Kagura could finish her question, something snapped inside Tomo, and she abruptly interrupted her.

"Shut up!" she screamed.

Kagura was taken aback by her explosive reaction, and stumbled over her own words. "I...I-I'm sorry..."

"Tsh... I couldn't kill Wesker, that son of a bitch. He got away. I'll get him for this though. I'm gonna blow his ugly head off."

"Tomo, listen," Kagura reasoned, having regained her composure. "We have to get out of here, now!"

Tomo didn't say a word, and instead just started walking towards her.

"Hey, are you listening? We don't have any time!"

But she still didn't respond, and quietly passed by her.

"I'm really sorry about Yomi, but if we don't go right now..."

"!"

Suddenly, Tomo turned around and violently tackled Kagura. Kagura held her arms in front of her like a shield but couldn't help herself from nearly falling backwards.

"What the hell are you doing?" she snapped.

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP, KAGURA! I don't want to hear you talking about this!"

"Why not?"

"I just don't want it, alright! I'm not leaving here until I killed that bastard, and I don't give a shit about what you people want to do, so leave me alone!"

Both literally and figuratively, Tomo turned her back on Kagura and headed towards the other part of the corridor. But then she felt Kagura's hand on her shoulder. Tomo figured that she was trying to comfort her or something, and she didn't need that. She turned around and was about to blow up in her face again, when Kagura's fist suddenly collided hard with her cheek. The blow was still warm when she then grabbed Tomo by the colar and pushed her into the concrete wall and held her there firmly. When Tomo pulled herself together, she was face to face with a truely pissed off Kagura.

"So that's it, huh? You think that you're the only one suffering because Yomi died? Don't make me fucking laugh!"

"Shut up..." Tomo grumbled.

"No you shut up! Shut the fuck up and listen to what I have to say! I know that you're in a lot of pain right now, but I can't accept the way you're behaving now. Yomi was my friend too, and Osaka's friend, and Sakaki's friend. Don't act like you're the only victim here!"

"What do you know? I've known Yomi ever since I was a kid! Do you know what it feels like to have your life long friend taken away from you?" Tomo retorted back.

"Don't you think I want to cry? Chiyo-chan is back there, crying like she never has before. She stayed so strong through all this, but she's crying now! If you want me to cry...," Kagura's voice started to crack and the first of many tears started flowing out of her eyes, "then...then I'll just cry!"

Tomo released the grip on Kagura's hands that were pressing her against the wall and stared at her intensely. Seeing her cry like that, the hatred in her heart slowly started to fade and she calmed down.

"Yomi saved my life. I would be dead right now if it weren't for her. But I still messed up in the end and became nothing but a burden. On top of that, I never got to return the favor. Why did it have to turn out like this..."

"Kagura... I..."

Kagura released her grip on Tomo's collar and let her head hang low. "Miyamoto-san didn't make it either," she sobbed.

Tomo's bloodshot eyes went wide open in disbelief. "Wh...what?"

"I just found him. He was killed by some kind of monster. On top of that, Sakaki... If we don't hurry, she might die too. So please, Tomo, I understand that you're angry, and that you can't forgive Wesker, but don't do this! And, also…"

Tomo and Kagura stared into eachother's eyes with full intrigue, as kagura continued.

"Yomi told me about it. I owe my life to you too. You came after me when I was almost killed by the shark, didn't you? I would've drowned for sure if it wasn't for you. I never got around to thanking you, so I'll do it now. Thank you so much, Tomo, for everything you've done for me. So please, don't do anything rash. I don't want to lose you too…"

Tomo's eyes were overflowing again. The tears slowly washing away more fresh blood on her face, as she tried to wipe them away with her fingers.

"We have to get o-out of here," she hiccuped. "It's w-what Yomi w-would've wanted... I'm s-sorry, Kagura..."

A smile formed on Kagura's face as the tears kept flowing, and Tomo abruptly placed her head down on her shoulder, where she continued to cry. Kagura responded by gently wrapping her arms around her.

"You're okay now. It's gonna be okay!"

"_The self-destruct system has been activated! Repeat, the self-destruct system has been activated!"_

Tomo and Kagura opened their eyes in shock at this female voice resounding from the speakers on the ceiling. They detached from one another and looked around nervously like they had seen a ghost.

"S-self-destruct?" Kagura exclaimed.

"_All personnel must evacuate immediately! De-activating and releasing all locks!"_

"That bastard! Wesker must have done this!" Tomo growled.

After the message was over, a loud, shrill siren echoed through the corridor and the message repeated itself.

"The locks are released. We can get to the helipad this way! This may be our lucky break, but we have to get going now!" Kagura said.

Tomo quickly nodded and they both raced up the stairway to where the rest was.

"Guys!" Chiyo shouted from the resting room. "This laboratory is going to explode! We have to go!"

"We know!" Kagura shouted back as she and Tomo ran quickly. "We heard it too, you know?"

"Tomo-chan, you're alright! What happened to you?"

"It'll have to be for later," she panted as she entered the room. "How's Sakaki?"

"She's still unconscious." Chiyo answered worried.

"We'll have to carry her. We're getting out of here, for good!" Kagura rambled in a hurried fashion. "Osaka, help me support her!"

"Ah, yes!"

The girls were in utter panic now as the droning siren pounded in their ears. The destruction of the laboratory, and likely the whole mansion was now imminent. Kagura and Osaka supported the wounded Sakaki, while Tomo and Chiyo walked ahead. They found the large door leading to the heliport just outside the resting room, and because the locks had been released, it could now be opened. With a heavy rumble, it opened, revealing a hot and steamy corridor with pipes protruding from every part of the wall. Tomo and Chiyo ran ahead to secure the perimeter. Luckily, there were no monster, which made for an easy passage. Finally, after a few corners, there was the elevator, and it was all ready to be boarded. Everyone quickly got in and Tomo pushed the button. At a steady pace, the lift traveled up, lights along the way flashing by.

"So far so good," Kagura said. "Let's hope there's a helicopter nearby."

"And what do we do if there's not?" Chiyo asked suspiciously.

"Well, I hate to say it, but then we're royally screwed."

The whole crew gulped loudly.

But there was the light at the end of the elevator shaft. Natural light. Warm sunlight. The gate of the elevator opened and the girls walked out. The heliport was large and spacy, but confined by four concrete walls, most of them overgrown with ivy. There were a whole bunch of things scattered by the sides, such as hoses, barrels and crates. The sun was up high in the sky, shining past the white clouds. The warm summer rays felt nice and comfortable, even more so since the girls had been underground for so long. Kagura and Osaka sat down Sakaki by the wall.

"Alright, now we just have to find something to get their attention. Osaka, keep an eye on her, okay?"

Osaka nodded with a serious glint in her eyes, and the rest scattered to find something useful. It didn't take long at all until Kagura found a large, metallic box, and inside it were a few flares.

"Bingo!" she grinned.

She picked it up and turned to her friends. "Hey guys, I found flares! We're good!"

Then there was a loud slam coming from behind her, and the floor under her feet trembled for a second. Before she knew it, dust and rubble were flying beside her.

"No, Kagura, look out!" Tomo screamed.

As Kagura turned around, the white skinned giant landed right before her with a heavy thump. Kagura's gaze went up the spasming monster's body, as it looked down to her with those soulless eyes.

"What is this?"

"Kagura, get out of there!" Tomo yelled as she ran towards her.

She received a blow to the head from the clawed hand, so hard that her whole head was ringing, and her body went temporarily numb. She was tossed to the side and landed against the wall.

"KAGURA!" Tomo roared.

Small streams of blood ran down Kagura's forehead and dripped onto the concrete. She had no idea what was going on anymore. She literally was knocked the sense out of her. She tried to stand up, but was so dizzy that she just kept falling down again. Tomo raced up to her and turned her around.

"Kagura! Are you okay? Stay with me here!"

But to Kagura, everything around her was spinning. There was a constant ringing in her ears, and she felt nauseous. She tried to answer her but all that came out was silent mumble.

Tomo once again realised that things were starting to look completely hopeless. To her unpleasant surprise, the Tyrant was still alive, after she struggled so badly to try and kill it before. The big wound she left in its heart was healed already, and it wasn't even half an hour ago.

"This thing is...unstoppable?" she murmured.

With so many targets to choose from, the Tyrant growled and looked around, like it was making a decision. As the worst case scenario would come to be, it turned and headed towards Osaka and Sakaki.

"Ahhhh, it's comin' this way," Osaka whimpered. "What am I gonna do?"

"Run, Osaka...!"

Osaka snapped her head towards Sakaki, who she didn't know had woken open very recently. "What?"

"Save yourself. I'm useless in this fight, so you should save as many as you can...," she said weakly, but with a seriousness in her eyes.

"N-no way!"

"If you try to protect me, you might die! I don't want that!"

Osaka cracked a small smile and shook her head. "Nah, fuhgeddaboutit. I ain't runnin' away anymore, for nothin'! Not even for this thing!"

Quickly she got up and aimed her gun. "I'll protect ya, Sakaki, if it's the last thing I do!"

Sakaki watched Osaka's back in admiration, but also fear and frustration. "Osaka, don't!"

But she ignored that, and opened fire without hesitating. The bullets from her hand gun impacted, but had little to no effect. Sweat pearled on her forehead as she unleashed round after round, but the Tyrant just kept creeping up closer to her.

"S-somebody help!"

While all this was going on, Chiyo stood near the wall on the other side, her legs trembling like leaves in the wind. Her gun was in her hand loosely. "Th-this is the thing that killed Yomi-san."

Struck with numbing fear, she backed up against the wall. Osaka was fighting so valiantly, yet all she could do right now was cower at this impressive monstrosity. She felt like a coward, but she couldn't help it.

"What should I do?"

Kagura had lost consciousness. All attempts Tomo had made to keep her awake had failed. She really wanted to cry again, but realised that this was a crisis situation. She had to do something. She gently placed Kagura down and took her Magnum revolver. With her senses set to kill, she ran up to the Tyrant.

"Hey, you lousy test tube freak!" she roared.

The Tyrant was just two feet away from Osaka when it stopped. It slowly cocked its head over its shoulder.

"Your business is with me! I'm gonna finish you off!"

If the Tyrant could laugh, this was when it would. It kept standing there for a while, then swiped its claws towards the girl in front of it.

"No, Osaka!"

With a bleeding cutwound in her torso, Osaka fell down sideways. As soon as she hit the concrete, she cried out in pain. Sakaki bolted up as well as she could and stumbled towards her.

"Osaka!"

"It hurts, it hurts!" she yelped.

"Hang in there!"

Tomo had her teeth gritted in anger. "You stupid son of a bitch. You'll pay for all this!"

But before she even got started…

…it was already over.

The Tyrant stormed up to her completely unexpected in a dash previously unseen. In a mere second, Tomo took a full, frontal slam from its arm. The Magnum was sent flying and landed dozens of feet away, as Tomo hit the concrete. Then, its hand once again wrapped around her neck and she was lifted from the floor. Tomo was in the same predicament as before. Once again, she reached for her pocket knife, but the Bio Weapon was way ahead of her this time. With its claws, she knocked the blade out her hand.

"Dammit!" she blurted out.

Her eyes darted around to look for her friends, but they had been incapacitated themselves, incapable to help her. Was all hope lost? Tomo was now at the mercy of the beast, and it didn't look like it was about to grant her that.

* * *

_Wata: So, do you guys want the final chapter, huh? Oh, it's done and all, but maybe you want to be kept in tension a tiny bit more? =p_

_Tomo: Argh, don't leave me hanging here! Literally! Get on with it!_


	28. Birth Of A Legend

Chapter 28: Birth Of A Legend

Tomo dangled several feet above the ground, the strong hand of the Tyrant clenching her troath. Through her squinted eyes, she saw the rest of her friends, struggling to pick themselves up from the floor. Osaka was trying to pull herself together with the wounded Sakaki trying to help her, Kagura was still unconscious, and Chiyo was too terrified to move. The giant's claw hovered around threateningly, shimmering in the bright sunlight. Drool dripped from the savage monster's mouth, and Tomo saw her reflection in its white dead eyes. Slowly, she was raised higher into the air and the claws drew back steadily. In just a few moments, she would meet the same fate as her friend. With her weapon out of reach and nothing else to back her up, it started to seem that way indeed. With the last of her might, gasping for air and kicking her legs, she used her hands to try and pry the Tyrant's grip loose. But it was no use; it was just too strong. Tomo closed her eyes and braced herself.

_I guess this is it... We just weren't supposed to make it out. Damn it! I'm sorry, guys..._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the Tyrant's roar, signalling that her time of execution had arrived. Tomo clenched her jaws as its body shook, and awaited the assassin's dagger to tear through her her.

Seconds seemed like hours, but she didn't feel anything. It was like she was in another world, completely delirious by the fear of death staring her in the eyes, knowing there was nothing she could do about it. She had no idea what dying felt like, so she could expect anything. Asphyxiation had made her body numb, and she was in a state of semi-consciousness; deaf, dumb and blind to her surroundings. She was nearly certain she had already died. She was sure that the claws had already impaled her, and that she had already left the void of the living. Then why could she still feel the sensation of breathing? Why could she still sense the rythmic shocks of heartbeats, and why could she still hear the droning of the self destruction alarm? Was she already dead, or still slowly dying? There was no pain, only doubt. She then discovered that she could still open her eyes. The light of the sun, blinding her, and the smell of fresh air entering her nose. She slowly looked down and saw no traces of the claw ever entering her body, and the Tyrant still in the same position as before, only its head turned slightly to the left. She was still alive, but why? Dazed, confused and with eyes only half open, she noticed something gripping the claws. It was a hand; no, two hands! Just a little further, arms, a human body, a face, and strange, angry eyes. Beautiful golden eyes, with a red, glowing border, and small, slit pupils. Tomo's eyes went as big as they could when she realised whose face that was. And when she did, she quickly convinced herself that she was dreaming. It couldn't be her, impossible. Those were not the eyes she knew so well. Besides, how could she hold back such a powerful creature with her bare hands? And on top of that..., she saw her...die!

"Let go of her, you son of a bitch!"

That roaring voice ringed in her ears, waking up all her senses, and, although she still had problems believing it, convinced her that everything she was seeing was reality. An immediate reaction triggered in her brain, causing her to yell as loud as she possibly could, partially in amazement, partially in relief.

"Yomi!"

With steady hands, Yomi held back the Tyrant's clawed arm, with no signs of struggle whatsoever. In her eyes, looking straight back at her, Tomo could tell she was confused herself, but gave her a smile, and said in her oh so familiar voice she was sure she would never have heard again;

"Nobody is going to die here. We're all leaving this place together."

With that, the Tyrant growled and diverted all its attention to Yomi. It tossed Tomo away, clenched its fist and lunged out at her. But Tomo was thrown towards the edge of the helipad, heading for a fatal plunge down to the ground. She yelped as she swirled through the air, but she was caught well before she reached the edge. With a slight shock, she came back down to the ground.

The Tyrant pounded its fist forward but hit nothing but air. Its target was gone in the blink of an eye. It recollected itself and looked around, until it found its target again, ten meters away from it. There she sat, crouched down, with Tomo in her arms. No idea what just happened, Tomo looked into Yomi's eyes. She didn't dream anything after all. Her eyes really were different; golden surrounded with red, and cat like slits as pupils. They were gorgeous, but unnerving at the same time.

"Y...Yomi... I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"No...," she replied softly, "You're not..."

"But...I thought you were..."

"I was... I'm sure I was..."

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know," she said. "I don't understand what happened. I just woke up like I was just sleeping, but I felt...different..."

Tomo didn't know what to say next. So many questions popped up, that they would need a lifetime to be answered. She was so confused, but happy at the same time. She swiftly threw her arms around her friend and hugged her tightly, with tears of happiness bursting out of her eyes. Suddenly, she felt like gravity had failed on her. Before she knew, she was up in the air, and down below, the Tyrant's claws grazed the concrete and ripped some chunks off it. It wasn't until Yomi was in the midst of the jump that she realised what she had just accomplished. They came back to solid floor way on the other side of the helipad, where the rest of the group had gathered. Osaka had somewhat come back to her positives, and partially saw what happened. Everyone was just speechless and too afraid to say anything. Yomi put Tomo back to her feet and looked at the others.

"What happened to you?" she asked when she saw their wounds.

"Th...that's what I'd like to know!" Sakaki exclaimed. "How did you..."

"I'll explain later. You just take care of yourselves, and don't worry about anything else," she said in a serious tone. She looked back over her shoulder. The Tyrant was furious now! It threw its head back and howled to the skies like a crazed wolf. Yomi turned around and started walking.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Tomo called.

"I'm going to finish this, once and for all," she snarled.

"Are you insane? Aren't you at least going to take a weapon?" Tomo exclaimed.

"Normally, I would have agreed with you, Tomo. I don't know why, but...something tells me I can take care of this myself," she said in a doubtful tone. "I don't need a weapon."

Tomo, Chiyo, Osaka, Kagura and Sakaki watched in awe as Yomi calmly marched up to the the towering monster, more than half as tall as her, with empty hands.

"Yomi-san," Chiyo mumbled.

"O-oi! Are you sure this is okay?" Kagura asked.

But Tomo didn't say anything. She could only believe in her, and the strange powers she mysteriously attained. Part of her thought she was absolutely crazy, while another side believed that she just might be able to do it. With bated breath, she watched as the Tyrant now stormed up to Yomi, its claws ready to strike.

"Yomi, look out" Sakaki yelled.

Yomi stood still and stayed completely calm. She clenched her fists and, for some reason, awaited the blow she was about to receive. She didn't even know why she did this herself; a strange feeling told her to. With some more heavy steps, the Tyrant was right in front of her, and swung its arm with bonecrunching force.

*BANG!*

With a shaking thud, its clawed hand came in contact with her. Tomo gasped and closed her eyes, too afraid to look what happened. Everything was silent for several seconds, so she carefully opened her eyes again.

"Wh-what? How did that..."

"Oh, good Lord," Kagura said dumbstruck.

Yomi was still standing, but so was the Tyrant. Yomi had her lower right arm raised at the height of her head, and the Tyrant's arm was pressing against it. The Tyrant pushed, and pushed, but couldn't get Yomi to budge. It was like trying to push an armed concrete wall.

"Amazin'!" Osaka cried out.

Yomi blocked the devastating attack with nothing but her arm, without even breaking a sweat or breaking a bone. Her arm didn't even hurt, even when the Tyrant's impressive muscles tried break her defense with force.

Yomi started to understand a little. The move she just made was not like her. Her natural reflex would have been to try to dodge that attack, but instead, she blocked it. So, it wasn't out of her own free will. It was just like when she managed to catch Tomo, or when she made that enormous jump. It was an impulse, a strangely different reflex; her body knew exactly what to do, and what she was now capable of. She acted on a pure, sharp, animalistic instinct. On top of that, an overwhelming, supernatural power coursed through her veins. Her muscles felt like they were made of steel, her bones felt unbreakable, and the adrenaline pumping through her bloodvessels lifted her into higher spirits; a feeling of being absolutely unstoppable. She felt so weird, like she was reborn into a greater, more powerful being. She couldn't comprehend why or how, but fighting was in her blood, and right now, it dominated all her senses. After some more useless struggles, the Tyrant pulled back. Yomi withdrew her arm and looked it straight in the eyes. Something started boiling up. Her eyes started to glow red like lava lamps, her pupils contracted, and her muscles flexed. Again, based purely on instinct, she unleashed a counter attack. She dashed forward faster than the eye could see, spun on her heel half a circle, clenched her fist tightly, and like a hammer of the Gods, slammed into the Tyrant's stomach.

The Tyrant underwent a sensation that could best be described as 'being hit by a freight train'. As Yomi's iron like fist plowed through the stomach muscles, a powerful shockwave raced across and through its body. Literally every fiber in its body rumbled, like a bomb just went off in its stomach. Air swiflty shifted past its whole body; a gust of wind accompanying the catastrophic blow. The Tyrant let out a painful yelp, blood splurted out of its mouth, and its over 400 pound body was slinged backwards several feet. It rolled over the floor a few times and came to a standstill, its massive body twitching and convulsing. Yomi retracted her fist and took a normal pose again. She was surprised. She didn't expect something like this to happen.

But more surprised were the others standing by the sidelines. They had to pick up their jaws from the floor and rub their eyes.

"Somebody pinch me," said Osaka. "Is that really Yomi over there?"

"What a punch... even I could feel that blow," said Kagura.

"I-I don't understand...," Chiyo stammered. "For a moment there, she moved faster than I could see. It was like a flash, like she instantly transported, and then to punch like that. This isn't natural. No human can move this fast or be this strong."

Tomo looked at Chiyo over her shoulder and gently nodded. "Yeah... Something must have happened after she died. Some kind of virus...?"

"Most likely," Sakaki agreed. "It probably has something to do with Wesker kidnapping her."

"Hey, watch out! It's standing up again!" Kagura exclaimed.

The Tyrant got back up to its feet, seemingly already recovered from that last punch. It roared, going into an enraged state, and ran up to Yomi again. Yomi stood still, somewhere near the center of the helipad, and waited as it got closer. She was planning to put her abilities to the test, so she waited for the strike. The Tyrant lunged out at her with its sharp protrusions, and Yomi quickly dodged by leaning her upper body to the side. Then came another swing, overhead this time. Yomi easily rolled out of the way. The following barrage of swipes and slashes were gracefully evaded by Yomi, each and every one of them, with elegant precision.

As her body swayed back and forth, left and right continuously, and her feet performing a complicated dance, she realised some other things. Her perspective and vision had changed drastically. Not only could she see perfectly without the glasses she usually had to wear, but her eyesight had become a lot sharper and more defined than that of any human being. Her eyes and brains picked up more frames per second, allowing her to clearly see and anticipate every single move her adversary made. To her, everything felt like it was going in slow motion. The Tyrant's claws zoomed by her ears, and every single sound, even the faintest crack of a muscle, she was able to pick it up. She attained eyes equal to those of an eagle, and hearing resembling that of a cat. Combining those with her perfected reflexes, incredible speed bursts, through the roof agility, bulldozer like force and impossibly high stamina, the Tyrant couldn't lay a finger on her. Yomi decided to put an end to this charade, jumped over its arm and kicked it in the chest. The Tyrant sputtered a little and slided backwards. Taken aback, it stumbled around, clearly running out of steam. The so called Ultimate Biological Weapon was being bested by a girl that didn't compare in size and mass. While the Tyrant was losing its energy, Yomi barely broke a sweat. Normally, after all of that, she would have been exhausted, but now she wasn't even panting. But there was only one thing she wanted to know, but she had to wait for the right opportunity again. As the Tyrant ran up to her one more time, she watched its movements closely. When she saw that the time was right, she held perfectly still and didn't move a muscle. When it was close enough, she shut down all reactions.

The other girls gasped and yelped in fear as the Tyrant's fist collided with Yomi's face with a blow of epic proportions. Her body was catapulted backwards and slided over the ground with great velocity, rolled over and stopped face down. Everyone was sure; Yomi's face was definitely broken now. In panic, Tomo ran up to her.

"Yomi! Are you okay?"

But she was once again dumbstruck when Yomi pulled herself up from the floor like nothing ever happened. Her lower lip was bleeding slightly, but that incredible punch, that could have killed any regular human being, didn't even hurt her.

"Y-Yomi...!" Tomo shouted.

She was certain now. She purposely avoided the claws and awaited an attack by fist, because a creature of such strength could do some serious damage even with just its knuckles. But as powerful as that strike was, it had no effect on her. She knew enough now; she was unstoppable, and perfect in every way, but that aggravated her.

"Crap...how could this be...," she grunted.

She then dashed up to the Tyrant and punched it in the stomach again. The effect was very similar to last time, but the monster managed to stay on its feet this time.

"I don't believe this... That bastard..."

Severely pissed off, the Tyrant thrusted its claws forward, but Yomi caught it with her hands, resulting in a power struggle she seemed to be winning. Her eyes glowed ferociously.

"How could you do this to me?" she screamed.

Yomi tore and yanked at the claw clenched tightly in her hand when she heard a strange noise quite far behind her. It sounded like chalk ticking on a chalkboard, accompanied by a long, whispering hiss. By her enhanced hearing, she could even pinpoint where the sound was coming from, and by what she figured out, it meant trouble. She had to act fast. She roared, and forcefully tore off the claw she was holding with a loud and disgusting snap. The Tyrant howled in pain as blood squirted out of the wound that was once its finger, and quickly pulled back its arm in shock. Yomi held the claw firmly in her hand, turned around and threw it.

Tomo didn't know what was happening when she suddenly saw a sharp spear zooming towards her with terrifying velocity. It came so fast she couldn't react until it passed by right over her head. She cringed, pulled her head in and nearly fell to the ground. What she heard behind her was a splat and a screech.

"Whoa, what the...!"

Behind her, she saw a strange human sized creature, skewered by the claw, nailed to the wall. It was still moving, but dying. It had no skin, but its body consisted of large, naked muscles and small bits of exoskeleton covering its back, and bony protrusions on its elbows. Big and sharp claws on its hands, and smaller ones on its feet. Its head had no face, no nose and no eyes, but a big mouth with sharp teeth and a very long, pointy tongue was hanging from it. The strangest part was that its brains were completely exposed. The blood seeped down the wall as the strange new monster gave its last breath. It probably jumped down from the roof and was about to land onto Tomo, but was intercepted just in time. Another close call.

"What is that thing?" Kagura said, still startled.

"Hey, that's that thing that used ta be that Crimson Head, r'member? The thing with the long tongue!" Osaka noted.

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it," Tomo puffed.

"It looks different, though," said Sakaki.

"It probably mutated into a further form," said Chiyo. "Hard to believe that thing used to be a person. But...how did Yomi know it was sneaking up on us?"

"That was a close one," Yomi sighed.

Every move the Tyrant could make now was useless, as Yomi always seemed to be on guard, even when her back was turned. But that didn't stop it from trying. While her attention was with her friends, it once again thrusted forward. But Yomi jumped up, briefly landed on its shoulder, hopped up again, and slammed down on its head with her elbow. Stunned by this painful blow, it fell face down, but before it could hit the ground, Yomi grabbed its clawed arm with both hands. She stomped her foot on its back and twisted, contorted and bended the arm in unnatural ways. The tension in its bones rised to the breaking point, and with one more powerful push, its humerus splintered with a sickening crunch. The Tyrant let out an agonising and eardeafening howl that could be heard miles away.

"Ouch, that sounded painful!" Tomo commented.

"Pitiful," Yomi said between her teeth, "how you're lying here now. I'm going to break you."

Slowly, and in a wobbling fashion, the Tyrant stood up, its left arm hanging limp by its side like a partially snapped off branch. It emitted some grunts, and brought its hand to Yomi's throat.

"You took my life away, and as if it wasn't bad enough, you took my humanity as well."

The Tyrant engulfed Yomi's neck with its big hand and lifted her up, attempting to squeeze the life out of her. But even while being strangled, Yomi could still talk.

"I finally understand now..."

* * *

*Flashback*

After being surrounded by a veil of darkness, Yomi's consciousness slowly drifted back to her. Like she just woke up from a deep sleep, she slowly opened her eyes. As the fuzziness of her vision and her mind cleared up, she noticed that she was lying in something wet. When she sat up straight, she noticed it was blood. Her hands, her arms, her chest, her entire body was covered with it. Dazed and confused, she looked around. She was in the laboratory, and she was all alone. She saw the shattered capsule against the wall, and she began to remember again. She remembered the excruciating pain as she stared that monster straight in the eyes. Her consciousness drifting away as those terrible claws sunk deeper into her body. But the very last thing she recalled, was the cry of her friend.

"I...died...?"

The blood that she was in was her own, but when she looked at her torso, there was nothing. Her clothes had holes in it, but no wounds, not even a scar. Even more confused now, she stood up. She felt odd; not only was there no physical trace of her fatal wound, but there was this strange sensation in her body. It felt unreal, out of this world. Absent mindedly, she picked up her glasses. They were cracked, but they would have to do. But when she put them on, her vision became blurry, and it went back to normal went the took them off. She then realised that she could see perfectly without her glasses. Impossible; she needed glasses ever since she went to preschool because of her bad eyesight, how could it suddenly get better? And she couldn't just see well, she saw better than ever before, even with her spectacles. She noticed details in the room that would never have occured to her otherwise, like it was just in her nature. Even more puzzled now, she left her glasses behind and headed further down into the lab. There was a sink and a mirror there, so she decided to freshen herself up a bit. She opened the tap and wondered what the hell was going on, when she saw herself in the mirror, and froze. She spooked herself, not because of how messed up she looked, but because of her eyes.

Her eyes had changed colour and structure. Instead of her regular brown eyes, they were now golden, with a slight red border, and the pupils had turned into slits, much like those of the Hunters. It was like she was turning into a lizard or something. After looking at her own eyes carefully, she noticed that the red border was actually slightly glowing.

"What...is this...?"

Yomi started panicking. In a frenzy, she stumbled backwards and hit one of the tubes behind her.

"Wh...what's happening to me?" she cried frantically. "What the HELL IS GOING ON?"

Enraged, she pounded the empty tube behind her, and to her shock, her hand went right through the thick glass. Phazed, she retracted and registered what just happened. Did she just do that? Curiously, she tried again, but with a kick this time. Like a knife cutting through butter, the capsule shattered with one good swipe of her foot. And this was no ordinary glass; it was reinforced, several inches thick.

"H-how did I just..."

Then it hit her. So far, the fact that she was knocked out and taken away didn't make any sense to her, but now it did. She ran back to the mirror and scanned her neck for eventual traces. And yes, there it was, hidden behind her hair at the side of her neck; a small red dot, that looked like she was injected with something there. That was the crampy feeling she felt in her neck after she woke up in the underground, and it explained the strange substance Doctor Miyamoto found in her blood. The perpetrator couldn't have been anyone else but Wesker.

Yomi did die, but she was ressurrected again by that mysterious compound that was shot in her artery. And now, she possessed super powers. That's all she understood so far. But there was no time to waste anymore. She had to find the others. She just hoped they hadn't left yet. When she was on her way out, an alarm went off.

* * *

"Yes, I understand now," Yomi said as the Tyrant tried to squeeze her throat shut. "Everything he said about the Tyrant being the Ultimate Bio Weapon, and him not needing any of us anymore was a lie. The only one of us that wasn't expendable, was me..."

Yomi slowly brought her hands to the Tyrant's grip.

"The Tyrant isn't the Ultimate Bio Weapon. I am..."

With a strong grip, she grabbed hold of its thumb with one hand, and the rest of the fingers with the other.

"Even when he granted us the final explanation, he deceived us. Deceived me. And for his disgusting ambitions, I had to die...and, come back to life as a killing machine."

Yomi exercised force on the Tyrant's hand by pulling its thumb and fingers to opposite sides.

"Do you know...HOW THAT MAKES ME FEEL?" she roared viciously, and with a powerful pull, the Tyrant's thumb popped out of place and sinew came loose. Yomi plumped down on the floor in a crouched position. She looked up at the giant shaking its broken hand in pain.

"I'M FURIOUS!"

She then jumped up in the air and landed a devastating kick on the monster's jaw. After its left arm and its thumb, she now felt the lower jaw snap against her foot, and the once mighty Tyrant was sent flying through the air. After that, Yomi went completely berserk. She turned to one of the cameras suspended by the wall.

"Isn't that right, WESKER? This is what you wanted, right? Was I a good guinea pig to you, huh?" she screamed. "Are you watching me, as I pummel that filthy cannon fodder to death? You better be, because you took my humanity away from me for this! That's right, I'm no longer human thanks to you, you dirty piece of SHIT! Now watch me! I'm going to end this the only way it could satisfy you!"

Yomi stomped up to the downed Tyrant, clawed her hand and impaled its heart with her fingers. She forcefully drove her hand deeper and deeper into the ventrilical chamber, while the Tyrant violently trashed about and screeched in pure agony. She used her other hand to grab hold of the throbbing aorta, and then mercilessly and brutally tore out its entire heart. Blood was ejected all over the place, rapidly collecting on the concrete as deep puddles. The whole helipad was being painted red, and the Tyrant screamed. It was a gigantic bloodbath, making the rest of the party turn white and cringe.

Yomi held the still beating heart in her hand and turned to the camera. She raised it over her head.

"How's this? Are you satisfied now?"

Yomi threw the heart down on the ground, where it continued to bleed dry, when a voice sounded through the speakers.

_Five minutes until detonation_

"What? Just five minutes?" Kagura exclaimed.

"Oh no, we have to hurry! Kagura, fire a flare!" Chiyo said.

"Yeah..."

Kagura placed the big box in front of her and opened it. There were three flares left, and they could be fired electronically. She pushed a few buttons and launched the first flare into the air.

"I hope somebody sees this..."

Meanwhile, Yomi was looking at the Tyrant in its sorry state. But even without a heart, it continued to fight to stand up.

"You just refuse to die, don't you, asshole."

With its jaw hanging loose, its arm pulverized, its hand deformed and a huge, gaping hole in its chest, the bloodsoaked Bio Weapon still managed to stand up, even though it was in no state to attack anymore.

"I almost feel sorry for you," she said to it. "I will send you back to Hell!"

On the other side of the helipad again, Tomo was watching Yomi closely. Everything she said, and the way she acted, it hurted her. She bit her lower lip, turned around, and started pulling the claw impaling the dead monster.

"Tomo? What are ya doin'?" Osaka questioned.

But Tomo didn't answer. When the claw came loose and the monster tumbled to the ground, she took it into both hands, and started running.

"Tomo?" Sakaki called out.

"What's gotten into her?" Kagura wondered.

Yomi heard the footsteps quickly coming towards her from behind, and they surprised her. She saw Tomo running, the claw pointed forwards like a spear. She shot by her, and jammed the severed claw into the Tyrant's belly. It flinched, and let out a moan, as more blood escaped the wound.

"You're wrong, Yomi!" she yelled.

"Wh...what?"

"How can you say that...you're no longer human," she panted. "It doesn't matter if you have supernatural powers, you're still you!"

"I'm...still me?" she repeated softly.

"As your best friend, I can't allow you to say such stupid things. As long as you don't change on the inside, you are still the same person you always were. Super powers or not, I don't care! As long as you stay the way you were, you're still the old Yomi to me. But, when you start acting like you just did...I don't know you anymore," she sobbed.

"Tomo-chan..." Yomi blinked a few times and sadly looked at the ground. "B...but, I don't feel like a human anymore..."

"Yes, you do! Just look inside yourself. When you rescued me when I was about to die, and when you caught me from falling, and...when you rescued us from that strange monster. That was the old you, Yomi. The same Yomi that made the vow to us when we first got here, that we'd escape all together."

Tomo let go of the claw lodged in the mutant's stomach and turned around, revealing tears rolling down her cheeks, yet a smile on her face.

"This might sound cheesy, but what makes you human is what's inside your heart."

Yomi remained silent and turned to the Tyrant's heart laying on the floor, which had ceased to beat by now. "As long as my heart doesn't change, I'm still human..."

"That's right," Tomo smiled.

A small smile formed on Yomi's face, which grew bigger and bigger. It was a warm smile, a smile of hope and happiness. "Thank you...Tomo... You were right all along. I'm sorry, I guess I just lost myself..."

"It's okay, as long as you realise," she nodded.

A sound interrupted them, coming from the far distance, which came closer and closer. It was the sound of a throdding helicopter. They must have seen the flare Kagura fired, and they were now hurrying towards the mansion.

"Yes, alright! We're finally out of here!" Kagura cheered happily.

Cheerfully, Osaka and Chiyo embraced eachother. "We did it! We made it!" they chanted.

Sakaki breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, looking at the chopper, their ticket out of this nightmare, appearing at the horizon.

Yomi and Tomo were looking up to the skies, content that all ended well. "Looks like we've managed to keep that vow one way or another," Tomo laughed.

Yomi nodded. "We finally have a good reason to be happy. We finally did it."

"But I have to say," she said, marching to the back of the immobile Tyrant, "I like the point you tried to make here. I bet this guy doesn't like the feeling of being impaled by its own claws. That'll show him."

"Yeah. Just finish the job, but do it in style," Tomo chuckled.

Yomi grabbed the other side of the claw protruding out of the back and pulled it out, causing the Tyrant to flinch again. "That won't be a problem. You ready?"

Tomo backed up a few steps and gave a thumbs up.

"Okay, here we go!"

With that, Yomi delivered the final blow, by jumping up into the air and driving the claw through the Tyrant's head. But she wasn't done yet. As the Tyrant fell to its knees, she grabbed the pointed side again and pulled it out with incredible force. The Tyrant's head bursted into many, sloppy pieces, and it fell down, bleeding what little blood was left in its body. The Tyrant was dead, and for good this time.

"Think I overdid it?" Yomi asked casually.

"Well, you made quite a mess, but it was stylish. I liked it. I'd give it an 8 out of 10."

Both Tomo and Yomi started laughing out loud, but Yomi soon noticed that Tomo had two small tears in the corners of her eyes.

"H-hey, Tomo-chan, are you crying?" she asked a little uncomfortably.

Tomo brought her arm to her face and attempted to wipe the tears away, but they wouldn't stop coming. "H-huh? Wh-what are you saying?" she hiccuped, "these are tears of joy!"

"Ah...I see..."

"S...stupid Yomi...!"

"What?" she said astounded.

Tomo suddenly leapt up to her and threw her arms around her neck, locking Yomi in a tight hug as she let the tears flow in her chest.

"Stupid Yomi! Don't you ever die on me again, you hear!"

Yomi did not see this coming, so she was a bit dumbstruck. A smile appeared on her face and she gently returned the hug, placing her hand on the back of Tomo's head.

"I won't. I promise. Sorry for making you worry so much..."

"It's okay. Everything is just fine now," Tomo said as she snuggled as closely as she could.

Meanwhile, the police helicopter settled down in the middle of the helipad. The pilot and police officer inside were welcomed by the others. Of course the policeman started asking some questions, especially after seeing that bloody mess closeby.

"Who are you people? What happened here?" he inquired.

"We'll explain later," Chiyo said. "But we have to leave now! This building is going to explode in..."

_Two minutes until detonation._

"...in two minutes."

"What?"

"Don't mind that, we should get outta here before we're blown sky high," Kagura noted.

"Yeah, an' we can watch the fireworks from a distance," Osaka said as she wormed her way into the chopper.

"Hey, come on, guys! There's still room for two!" Kagura shouted to Yomi and Tomo.

As they both approached the chopper, Yomi threw her arm around her shorter friend and pulled her in.

"You know, you've really changed," she said.

"Yeah, I know. You've already said that. But remember, you couldn't have done it without me."

"Haha, yeah, it's true."

When everyone boarded the helicopter, they were finally ready to leave. The heli lifted up from the platform and quickly flew away from the estate about to burst. They still had about one minute left, so they could easily make it to safe distance.

"This is officer Hudson, circling the Arklay Mountains in search of the missing Mark Fendell. We have found six young girls in a lone mansion to the northwest of the forest. They are injured. Please prepare ambulances for our arrival. I repeat, six young girls, injured. Please contact the hospital to pick them up when we arrive," the policeman said in his radio.

"Excuse me, mister Hudson," Yomi said to him. "You are from the Raccoon City Police Department, right?"

"Yes."

"I have to talk to your chief. We found the missing person in the forest. He was killed. Something terrible happened in that mansion and the forest surrounding it."

"You found him? Where?"

"Near a pathway, not too far from here. But it's too dangerous to go there now. There are dangerous creatures down there!"

"What do you mean, miss? What happened?" he asked on.

"It's complicated... That's why I need to talk to the police chief as soon as possible. I'm okay. I don't need to go to the hospital now."

"...very well. We'll take you to chief Irons when we get back."

"Thank you."

"Hey, guys!" Osaka said. "I think the mansion's about ta blow up!"

Everyone looked outside of the window at the mansion in the distance. A few seconds afterwards, they saw it transform into a giant fireball. It was silent when they saw it happen, but the loud bang reached them a few moments later. A powerful shockwave rumbled the helicopter and made the trees in the vicinity sway. Smouldering pieces of rubble rained down, as big black plumes of smoke billowed up. The tragic Spencer mansion was completely wiped off the map; now nothing more but a big, burning heap.

"Oh man..." officer Hudson mumbled, and quickly grabbed the radio again. "Hudson here. The large mansion has just exploded!"

"Good thing we managed to get away in time," Chiyo said in amazement. "That must have been a powerful bomb!"

"And with that, all traces of what happened there are wiped away," Sakaki continued. "No wonder they installed a self destruct system in such a place."

"All we have now is the evidence that we recovered. I just hope it will be enough," Yomi sighed, sinking down into her seat. "Doctor Miyamoto didn't make it, did he?"

"No," Kagura said, shaking her head gently. "I found him dead in his hideout. I...found this..."

Kagura gave Yomi the folder filled with letters that she managed to hang on to. "You take it. You can show it to the police chief."

"Oh, I have some things too!" Tomo spoke up

She reached into her pocket and took out the family photos.

"These are..."

"Yeah, Lisa and Jessica's notes. I held onto them. I figured this was the last thing I could do to help her," Tomo smiled with a hint of melancholy.

"Thanks," Yomi smiled back. "With this, it should be taken care of in no time."

"Oh, that reminds me, I've got some more things here," Kagura finally said. She gave her the B.O.W list and the other family photo she still had in her possession. "This should help too, right?"

"Yeah, thanks. And once this is all settled, we'll enjoy the rest of our vacation, alright?"

"Can we go to the Zoo?" Osaka asked excited.

"You bet we can!" Tomo cheered. "We deserved it!"

"Alright! I wanna see some normal animals for a change, ya know?"

"I hear you," said Chiyo. "But first, I'm going to sleep, long!"

"And I'm taking a nice hot shower!" Kagura responded

"And a good meal," Sakaki added.

"Oh yeah! Definitely! I could eat a horse!" Tomo agreed.

But Yomi didn't participate in the conversations anymore. She was looking outside, over the forest. She saw her own eyes in the reflection of the window. Even after Tomo's motivational speech, she had her doubts if she could still live a normal life the way she was now. Also, she was suspicious. Some things still didn't make much sense to her. His true intentions; the reason why he turned her into this. She was angry, and confused. Even though she didn't want it to be this way, something told her that this wasn't the end. Not of the whole incident, and not of his disturbing schemes. The only thing she could do now was do her best, and watch her back.

_Wesker...what are you planning?_

As the helicopter flew towards the city, there was some activity down in the woods. A quadrupedal animal slowly walked over a dirtroad between the trees, sniffing around, having discovered a trace of some sort. It came to a stop on a small hill, looking at the horizon. Behind it, three more of the undead monsters showed up, growling and drooling aggressively, barking at one another. They were standing at the edge of the forest, looking over a large, open space. The leader of the pack of hounds sniffed the ground, and turned its gaze towards what was in the distance. It howled at the sky like a wolf. A few miles ahead was Raccoon City.

* * *

_Wata : This is the end, beautiful friend..._

_After more than two years, Biological Nightmare is finally done. It took me blood sweat and tears, and a whole load of time and energy, but I did it. And now it's time to take a break and see what we have done! XD_

_But to be honest, I couldn't have done it alone. No way. I wouldn't even have made past the first half if it weren't for you guys, who inspired me, motivated me or simply said "good work". Therefore, I have to pay homage to you._

_In alphabetical order : _

_Bet You Don't Know Me: That's right, I don't! Who are you? Doesn't like the fact that Wesker dodges bullets._

_Birra/ZiPeppe: I take a recipe for disaster and turn it into success, you better believe it! XD I appreciate the interest you took in my story. Thanks!_

_Daniel-138: Yes, maybe it did seem kinda off..._

_DarkChiyo: Oh come on, like I was going to forget about this story XD. Danke schön!_

_Doc Vitruvius: That was the kinda review I love, thank you. Here's your ending! =D_

_Emeraldpunk 16: A newcomer, but made me feel like I did something pretty good here. I do crackfics, but this is serious business (for the most part)._

_Gamer: Further proved that Osaka is, in fact, a superior being._

_HausofGlitter: Don't worry, I'm gonna redo Hotter Than Hell. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it eventually._

_Hexas 178: Tomo reminds you of your girlfriend? Damn, bro XD That's awesome! Greetings from Belgium to Australia. Stay out of my closet though, srsly._

_HisRoyalNipple: Correctly guessed I made a reference to Aliens. That's quite a bizarre name though..._

_JoeEngland: I'm sure he's not from England, but he is a pretty good critic. Thanks alot for the constructive criticism. I'll take it into account for the future._

_Keshi-sama: Was there since the very beginning, and submitted the first reviews, thus gave me the motivation needed to proceed. You have my gratitude. I owe alot to you._

_KittyAttack: Who may or may not have inspired another one of my fics... You weren't there since the very beginning, but you've been sticking by the story for quite a while. Thanks a bunch for that =D_

_Master of the Boot: I love it when people who haven't seen Azumanga are still so extremely positive about my fic. He's one of them. Probably the most praising reviews I've gotten were from him, and it speaks for itself that I'm extremely thankful and flattered even.._

_Mr. Thumbsup: Who got the pancake mix joke 8D RWJ FTW! Actually fav'd the story quite some time before he started reviewing, but I appreciate that just as much!_

_mu alpha beta: Ironically, you were the second person by then! XD_

_nightfall09: Actually saw Kagura's infection coming! My regards to the girl from the chili pepper country! XD_

_Overlord Drew: Thanks for the fav too! Many greetz!_

_Overlord-Kursed: Another Overlord? I know his name is Trevor, so it's perfect for this story. Beware of Crimson Heads outside the bathroom window!_

_samurai boy: Indirectly bitch-slapped me by stealing the 100__th__ review with just "nice story man", yet I appreciated it just as much._

_Shadowofintent: Yep, I do my best to keep it as In Character as possible. It ain't easy I tell ya! Thanks for the encouragement!_

_SkyCake: Isn't this the most delicious name you've ever heard? I've never eaten skycake before, but I bet it tastes heavenly! 8D_

_Skye: You're telling me you liked the fact that Kagura was bitten? You're weird... Nah, I'm just kidding, thanks for the support! XD_

_Son of Napalm: Excellent writer, me? Aw geez... Thank you, but why didn't you review the same way as everyone else and send me a PM? Oh well, still appreciated._

_Tantrix187/Dat fucking writefag: Thanks for the help, colleague! The shark scene with Tomo is a lot better now thanks to you. Also, I might work on some other errors later. Brohoof comin' your way!_

_TheoneandonlyKaorin: You know, you really didn't have to count the times I said "door"... I bet evil smells alot like sulfur. And Yomi totally called Chiyo "Chiyosuke" once, oh yes she did! The Azumanga Soundtrack, Utaimashou – Azumanga Daioh Vocal OST, on the full Tsukurimashou song. I'm serious, listen to it. Then again, the context was wrong, so you were probably right..._

_Vampirepiggy13: Killed them? Whatchu talkin' bout? XD Urgh, damn spelling errors, might clean those up later._

_WakingWorldDreamWorld: I don't know all that much about you, but I know this... Hey..., Nice Boat! 8D_

_xXxXOuTcAsTXxXx: Heeey, you have the same avatar I used to have on Youtube! Thanks for the kind words!_

_And that's all of them I think (well, all those who reviewed) sorry if I forgot someone. But I also have to thank everyone who favorited this story, or those that subscribed to it. And those who did all three get a triple thanks! XD But also those people that read it but didn't say or do anything else (lurkers), thank you too._

_Yes, thank you all! I love you guys! So bloody much!_

_But you know what's the best part?_

_This was just part 1. There's still 3 other parts coming! XD Yeah, that's right, 3! So check back in the future for the sequel!_

_And it shall be called..._

_Necropolis._

_Yomi : Read it when it comes out, or I will rip your heart out and throw it to the floor._

_Tomo : Geez, those kickass powers are going to her head already._

_Kagura : Nice. When is that one gonna be finished, 2012?_

_Osaka : Right b'fore the world ends, huh?_

_Sakaki : I was in fanfic for two years, and all I got was a lousy bullet in my shoulder._

_Chiyo : *bows* Hope I can get some more heroic parts._

_All : The horror won't end!_

_Wata: Oh btw, it was a Regis Licker, not just a licker ;D_


End file.
